Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts

Catalysts have been used on cars since 1974 to reduce tailpipe emission levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. Initially, oxidation catalysts were used that operated under very lean air/fuel conditions and gave rise to increased sulphate particulate emissions. These sulphate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus
Other Authors: Dutkiewicz, Ryszard Karol
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Energy Research Centre 2016
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613287132168192
access_status_str Open Access
author Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus
author2 Dutkiewicz, Ryszard Karol
author_browse Dutkiewicz, Ryszard Karol
Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus
author_facet Dutkiewicz, Ryszard Karol
Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus
author_sort Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus
collection Thesis
description Catalysts have been used on cars since 1974 to reduce tailpipe emission levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. Initially, oxidation catalysts were used that operated under very lean air/fuel conditions and gave rise to increased sulphate particulate emissions. These sulphate emissions could fortunately be reduced by better air/fuel control. However, the introduction of more active catalyst compositions, in particular the use of cerium oxide components on the wash coat, led to bad odour complaints from motorists. In the report it is shown that under fuel-lean conditions, sulphur, originating from the fuel, is stored as aluminium and cerium sulphates onto the washcoat. Upon a rapid change to fuel-rich engine operation the stored sulphates are released as hydrogen sulphide and is the cause for the smell observed. The sulphur storage/release process results in hydrogen sulphide emissions many times higher than is possible from steady-state conversion from the fuel sulphur level. By using a catalyst/engine combination on a testbed the experiments have shown that the hydrogen sulphide release is a kinetically limited reaction and, apart from the air/fuel control, depends mainly on the catalyst temperature.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21486
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:43.673Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Energy Research Centre
publisherStr Energy Research Centre
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21486 The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus Dutkiewicz, Ryszard Karol Mechanical Engineering Energy Research Applied Science Catalysts have been used on cars since 1974 to reduce tailpipe emission levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. Initially, oxidation catalysts were used that operated under very lean air/fuel conditions and gave rise to increased sulphate particulate emissions. These sulphate emissions could fortunately be reduced by better air/fuel control. However, the introduction of more active catalyst compositions, in particular the use of cerium oxide components on the wash coat, led to bad odour complaints from motorists. In the report it is shown that under fuel-lean conditions, sulphur, originating from the fuel, is stored as aluminium and cerium sulphates onto the washcoat. Upon a rapid change to fuel-rich engine operation the stored sulphates are released as hydrogen sulphide and is the cause for the smell observed. The sulphur storage/release process results in hydrogen sulphide emissions many times higher than is possible from steady-state conversion from the fuel sulphur level. By using a catalyst/engine combination on a testbed the experiments have shown that the hydrogen sulphide release is a kinetically limited reaction and, apart from the air/fuel control, depends mainly on the catalyst temperature. 2016-08-24T12:50:46Z 2016-08-24T12:50:46Z 1994 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Eng) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21486 eng application/pdf Energy Research Centre Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering
Energy Research
Applied Science
Siemelink, Johannes Jacobus
The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
title_full The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
title_fullStr The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
title_full_unstemmed The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
title_short The effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
title_sort effect of sulphur in fuel on the performance of automotive catalysts
topic Mechanical Engineering
Energy Research
Applied Science
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21486
work_keys_str_mv AT siemelinkjohannesjacobus theeffectofsulphurinfuelontheperformanceofautomotivecatalysts
AT siemelinkjohannesjacobus effectofsulphurinfuelontheperformanceofautomotivecatalysts