The NH ₃ Inhibition Effect in the Standard SCR Reaction over a Commercial Fe-zeolite Catalyst for Diesel Exhaust Aftertreatment: An Experimental and Modeling Study

Transient and steady-state kinetic data are herein presented to analyze the inhibiting effect of ammonia on the NH₃-SCR of NO at low temperatures over a Fe-zeolite commercial catalyst for vehicles. It is shown that in SCR converter models a rate expression accounting for NH₃ inhibition of the Standard SCR reaction is needed in order to predict the specific dynamics observed both in lab-scale and in engine test bench runs upon switching on and off the ammonia feed. Two redox, dual site kinetic models are developed which ascribe such inhibition to the spill-over of ammonia from its adsorption sites, associated with the zeolite, to the redox sites, associated with the Fe promoter. Better agreement both with lab-scale intrinsic kinetic runs and with engine test-bench data, particularly during transients associated with dosing of ammonia to the SCR catalyst, is obtained assuming slow migration of NH₃ between the two sites. In addition to a satisfactory description of the observed transient features, the resulting kinetic model granted absolute errors generally less than 5% for the predicted steady-state NOx conversions in all the operating points of test-bench validation maps, and performed well in the predictive simulation of the highly dynamic hot part of a WHTC test cycle.