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The introduction of gasoline direct injection technology into the European market will depend mainly on the availability of an effective and durable aftertreatment system, in order to reach future stringent European emission standards. NOx storage technology provides a reasonable chance of fulfilling future emission goals, but durability problems such as thermal degradation and sulfur poisoning have yet to be overcome. The present paper is dedicated to these problems, and demonstrates the progress achieved so far. The influence of different aging modes and aging severity on the NOx conversion efficiency of an advanced generation of NOx storage catalysts, is described in detail. It was found that the severity of aging at comparable catalyst bed temperatures, increases in the following order: hydrothermal aging in N2/H2O < engine aging w/o fuel cut at λ-1 < furnace aging in air < engine aging with fuel cut at λ-1.

New catalysts with HC (hydrocarbon) storage ability to improve NOx conversion and to minimize fuel penalty over the US Heavy Duty Transient cycle were developed. Without secondary fuel addition, simultaneous reduction of 13% NOx and about 30% particulate was achieved by storing HC from the engine during low temperature portions of the transient cycle and releasing and using the stored HC for NOx conversion at higher temperatures. With only 1% secondary fuel addition, NOx reduction can be increased to 25%, and the particulate conversion remained relatively constant at about 20%. More than 30% NOx reduction can be obtained with 3% fuel penalty. All the pollutants (NOx, PM, HC and CO) were reduced with 0-1 % secondary fuel addition.