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The formation of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) over an aged three way catalyst was analysed in a laboratory reactor for a variety of simulated Otto engine exhaust gas conditions. Nitrous Oxide formation was further analysed during FTP75 dynamometer test with a car. The car was equipped with either an aged catalyst or a fresh one. A fast response diode laser system was modified to enable detection of Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Monoxide simultaneously. From laboratory data the kinetics of Nitrous Oxide formation were evaluated with mathematical simulations and a mechanism was suggested. The results were compared to data from vehicle tests and the results were discussed in the light of the laboratory study. Two general trends were confirmed, i) N2O formation increases at slightly lean conditions: ii) catalysts with a low degree of deterioration gave lower N2O emissions, iii) the extent of N2O formation goes though a maximum with respect to dissociation rate of NO.

The reactions over a commercially available double layer tri-metal type (Pt, Pd, Rh) passenger car catalyst were analysed. A parameter study was performed in synthetic exhaust gases at: steady state conversion, periodic oscillations, and controlled transients. The influences of gas phase composition, temperature, adiabatic heat of reaction and lambda oscillations were investigated. The reactions of nitrogen oxides, propene and carbon monoxide were simultaneously analysed. Fast response emission analysers were used to record the dynamic properties of the catalysts. The catalyst was found to have high conversion rates and high oxygen storage capacity at relatively low temperatures. The presence of sulphur dioxide was found to reduce the conversion of CO and NOx substantially. An emission increase of 40-70 % was observed for steady state conditions and at oscillating conditions the increase was more than 100%.