An Investigation on the Performance of an Oxidation Catalyst Using Two-dimensional Simulation with Detailed Reaction Mechanism

Abstract

AbstractThe advent of stricter emission standards has increased the importance of aftertreatment devices and the role of numerical simulations in the evolution of better catalytic converters in order to satisfy these emission regulations. In this paper, a 2-D numerical simulation of a single channel of the monolith catalytic converter is presented by using detailed surface reaction kinetics aiming to investigate the chemical behaviour inside the converter. The model has been developed to study the conversion of carbon monoxide (CO) in the presence of propene (C3H6) for low-temperature combustion (LTC) engine application. The inhibition effect of C3H6 over a wide range of CO inlet concentrations is investigated. Considering both low and high levels of CO concentration at the inlet, the 2-D model predicted better results than their corresponding 1-D counterparts when compared with the experimental data from literature. It was also observed that C3H6 inhibition at high temperatures was significant, particularly for high concentrations of CO compared to low concentrations of CO at the inlet.