Technical Paper
Desulafation Dynamics of NOx Storage Catalysts
2002-10-21
2002-01-2886
The dynamics of the desulfation of a Ba-containing and a K-containing NOx storage catalyst have been investigated. When both catalysts were desulfated using a temperature ramp in exhaust that simulated gasoline exhaust with a 13:1 A/F, the maximum desulfation rate for the Ba-containing catalyst was seen at 620°C, while the maximum for the K-containing catalyst was at 760°C. This is consistent with the widely known fact that K2SO4 is more stable than BaSO4. The BaSO4 decomposed when either hydrogen or water was in the feed, but not when both were absent. The decomposition, therefore, requires hydrogen to be present and the water can provide sufficient hydrogen for the decomposition via the water-gas shift reaction. With either water or hydrogen in the uncycled feed, the primary sulfur compound formed from the decomposition was H2S for both the Ba and K-containing catalysts.