Heat Transfer Analysis of Catalytic Converters during Cold Starts

The transient heat transfer behavior of an automotive catalytic converter has been simulated with OpenFOAM in 1D. The model takes into consideration the gas-solid convective heat transfer, axial wall conduction and heat capacity effects in the solid phase, but also the chemical reactions of CO oxidation, based on simplified Arrhenius and Langmuir-Hinshelwood approaches. The associated parameters are the results of data in literature tuned by experiments. Simplified cases of constant flow rates and gas temperatures in the catalyst inflow have been chosen for a comprehensive analysis of the heat and mass transfer phenomena. The impact of inlet flow temperatures and inlet flow rates on the heat up characteristics as well as in the CO emissions have been quantified. A dimensional analysis is proposed and dimensionless temperature difference and space-time coordinates are introduced. Using this suitably modified coordinates, for the case of negligible axial solid conduction, computed solid temperature at the reactor outlet lay on a typical S-curve, allowing the introduction of an analytical function. A series of variations in the inlet exhaust temperature and mass flow as well as the initial solid temperature was chosen in order to highlight relevant dependencies. Results show the performance of the catalyst during cold start and have been used for a preliminary energetic assessment of the effectiveness of preheating the catalyst, the exhaust gas or both.