Urea thermolysis and NOx reduction with and without SCR catalysts

Urea–selective catalytic reduction (SCR) has been a leading contender for removal of nitrogen oxides (deNOx) from diesel engine emissions. Despite its advantages, the SCR technology faces some critical detriments to its catalytic performance such as catalyst surface passivation (caused by deposit formation) and consequent stoichiometric imbalance of the urea consumption. Deposit formation deactivates catalytic performance by not only consuming part of the ammonia produced during urea decomposition but also degrading the structural and thermal properties of the catalyst surface. We have characterized the urea thermolysis with and without the urea-SCR catalyst using both spectroscopic (DRIFTS and Raman) and thermal techniques (thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)) to identify the deposit components and their corresponding thermal properties. Urea thermolysis exhibits two decomposition stages, involving ammonia generation and consumption, respectively. The decomposition after the second stage leads to the product of melamine complexes, (HNCNH)x(HNCO)y, that hinder catalytic performance. The presence of catalyst accompanied with a good spray of the urea solution helps to eliminate the second stage. In this work, kinetics of the direct reduction of NOx by urea is determined and the possibility of using additives to the urea solution in order to rejuvenate the catalyst surface and improve its performance will be discussed.