Regeneration Behavior of Ceramic Foam Particulate Trap for Automotive Diesel Engines

A ceramic foam particulate trap for reducing automotive diesel engine particulate emission was developed. With its trapping efficiency 50-70 %, the trap is also reliable and durable. However, under practical automotive cruising conditions with exhaust temperature 400-650 K, particulates deposited in trap element cannot be burned up spontaneously to regenerate the element. The thermal regeneration temperature is 750-800 K. Adding organic compounds of copper, cerium or other metals in diesel fuel in concentrations 0.1-0.2 g/L (on the effective metal ion basis) reduces the regeneration temperature by about 100 K which is not enough to make the trap regenerate reliably in practical automotive application of particulate trap. A Simple diesel fuel burner developed regenerated the ceramic element completely in 1-3 minutes, providing a promising future for the practical utilization of the diesel particulate trap.