TransForum Vol. 8, No. 2

Integrated Fuel Technologies Gets Worldwide License for Argonne-developed Diesel DeNOX Catalyst

Argonne chemist Chris Marshall (front) displays a container of the catalyst while Sundar Krishnan, left, and Argonne researcher Steve Ciatti prepare to test it.

A new, patented catalyst developed a t Argonne National Laboratory has been licensed to Integrated Fuel Technologies, Inc. (IFT), a start-up company based in Kirkland, WA. The catalyst reliably and economically reduces 95 to 100 percent of the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel-fueled engines.

IFT plans to integrate the technology, named Diesel DeNOx Catalyst, into the firm’s existing products that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, said IFT president Robert Firebaugh. The products could be sold to original equipment manufacturers.

“The catalyst can also be easily retrofitted for installation on
existing diesel engine vehicles,” said Christopher Marshall, the Argonne chemist who led the development of technology (see TransForum 7:2). “There is a potentially large pool of customers for this technology, given the 11 million diesel engines currently on the road.”

IFT is also collaborating with Argonne through a two-year research agreement to test the technology’s longevity in realworld use and to demonstrate it in real-world applications to determine if it can meet a broad array of transportation applications.

Diesel DeNOx Catalyst is economical to make and use. The technology uses inexpensive metals, copper and cerium. The catalyst is applied to a ceramic brick as a coating, like a catalytic converter, and is installed in a vehicle’s emissions system. The technology works in conjunction with the particulate matter (PM) trap’s filter. The PM trap’s filter removes soot from diesel exhaust. The soot free exhaust is then processed by the Diesel DeNOx Catalyst to remove NOx emissions.

“The key to the Diesel DeNOx Catalyst technology is the reductant,” Marshall said. “Interestingly, it is the diesel
fuel that reduces the NOx to nitrogen, a harmless compound that composes about 79 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. The catalyst achieves such high rates of conversion because of its interactions with the hydrocarbons in the diesel fuel. The reduction in NOx emissions comes as a result of its conversion into nitrogen.”

Using diesel fuel as the reductant eliminates the need for onboard storage of compounds like ammonia or urea
that existing technologies use as reductants. Compared to existing technologies, Diesel DeNOx reduces the amount of additional weight a vehicle has to carry, allowing for more efficient use of a vehicle’s fuel.

In addition, the Diesel DeNOx Catalyst has increased performance in the presence of water vapors, making it ideal for use in automotive and truck exhaust systems, where water is always present.

“Furthermore,” he said, “the ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel that will soon be required for off-road use and is now mandated for on-highway use actually extends the life of the catalyst technology, which is less effective in the presence of dieselborne sulfur.”

Diesel DeNOx Catalyst is a low-cost technology given the usable lifetime of the catalyst, which is about 400,000 miles. A typical semi-tractor trailer or shipping and delivery service truck is driven about 45,000 miles in year, according to the American Trucking Association.

Funding to develop the Diesel DeNOx Catalyst was initially provided by Argonne’s Laboratory-Directed Research and Development program and later by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Program.

November 2008