Development of a New HC-Adsorption Three-Way Catalyst System for Partial-ZEV Performance

This paper describes a newly developed HC-adsorption three-way catalyst and adsorption system that reduce cold-start HC emissions with high efficiency. This system is the first of its kind anywhere in the world to be implemented on production vehicles. An overview is given of the various improvements made to achieve higher cold-start HC conversion efficiency.

Improvement of conversion performance was accomplished by (1) increasing the thermal stability of the HC adsorbent, (2) improving desorbed HC conversion efficiency and durability and (3) optimizing the geometric surface area (GSA) of the substrate. Concretely, the thermal stability of the adsorbent was improved by enhancing the high-temperature durability of zeolite. Improvement of desorbed HC conversion efficiency was accomplished by improving the OSC material so as to match the temperature rise characteristic and usage temperature of the catalyst. The durability of the conversion layer was increased by improving the washcoat composition. Higher HC adsorption efficiency was attained by optimizing the substrate GSA.

As a result of these improvements, the newly developed catalyst and HC-adsorption system make it possible to achieve adsorption efficiency of more than 90% and desorbed HC conversion efficiency of more than 80%.