Bridging the Gap Between Lab Scale and Full Scale Catalysis Experimentation

A new experimental set-up applied to engine emission experiments is presented which enables experiments where reactor conditions can be varied independently. These conditions include residence time, which can be varied via flow reduction and the possibility to use very different sizes of catalyst, temperature (using cooler or heaters) and concentrations (by dilution or adding gases). The system is designed to enhance knowledge transfer between lab scale and engine bench scale catalysis experimentation and to enable efficient design of experiments and catalytic reactor modeling. Two examples are presented dealing with capture of particulates and selective NOX reduction over a silver–alumina catalyst. Different experimental issues and their resolutions are also presented.