Catalytic regeneration of Diesel Particulate Filters: Comparison of Pt and CePr active phases

• DPFs have been loaded with 0.6 wt.% of either Pt or an optimized CePr active phase.
• Pt–DPF and CePr–DPF are regenerated at equal temperature in most conditions.
• Both Pt and CePr active phases are stable after several DPF regeneration cycles.
• The presence of H2O and CO2 affects equally to Pt–DPF and CePr–DPF.
• CePr is a promising candidate to replace Pt in real soot removal DPFs.

Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) have been loaded with the same amount (0.6 wt.%) of either Pt or an optimized CePr active phase, and an experimental set-up has been designated and used to investigate the catalytic combustion of soot under realistic reaction conditions. Both active phases were stable under reaction conditions, with no evidences of deactivation in consecutive combustion experiments. The presence of H2O and CO2 together with NOx and O2 in the gas mixture slightly delays soot combustion to higher temperatures, but the effect is equal for the Pt and CePr active phases. The mass of soot loaded into the filters had no effect in the catalytic regeneration of the DPFs for soot:catalyst weigh ratios below 0.4, while it was hindered above this ratio. The Pt and CePr active phases behave equal until 0.6 soot:catalyst weigh ratio and Pt performance was slightly better for higher soot loading. This difference is explaining according to the main soot combustion mechanisms occurring during Pt–DPF (NO2-assited) and CePr–DPF regeneration (active oxygen). The CO2 selectivity is near 100% for both catalysts in all the experimental reaction conditions evaluated. According to this study, the CePr active phase seems to be a promising candidate to replace Pt in real applications.

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