Effect of Mass Transfer on the Performance of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a computational investigation of the effect of mass transfer on the performance of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts, which are employed to reduce NOx emissions from diesel engines. The paper employs a single-channel based, one-dimensional, isothermal model. The heterogeneous surface chemistry is modeled by considering standard and fast SCR mechanisms, and the mass transfer rate is described by using a one-dimensional film model and dimensionless Sherwood (Sh) number. The paper investigates the effect of Sh numbers on the catalyst conversion performance at various temperatures and space velocities. The results show that the effect of the Sh number on the SCR catalyst performance is temperature dependent and is more pronounced at high space velocities. In general, higher Sh numbers lead to increased conversion efficiencies.