CO2 and O2 Separation Dual-Phase Membranes for Diesel Heavy-Duty Vehicles Applications

Diesel-engine Heavy-Duty Vehicle (HDV) exhaust gas mixture contains pollutants including unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. A catalyst-based emission control system is commonly used to eliminate the above pollutants. However, the excess of oxygen that exists in the exhaust gasses of diesel engines hinders the efficient and selective reduction of nitrogen oxides over conventional catalytic converters. The AdBlue^® solution, which is currently used to eliminate nitrogen oxides, is based on ammonia. The latter is toxic in high concentrations. The aim of this work is to develop an Oxygen Reduction System (ORS) to remove oxygen from the exhaust gas of diesel engines, allowing the successful catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides on a reduction catalyst without the need for ammonia. The ORS device consists of dense composite dual-phase membranes that allow the permeation of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Even though the oxygen concentration gradient across the membranes favors oxygen spontaneous diffusion from the atmosphere to the exhaust gas, the carbonate ion-based technology proposed herein utilizes the big difference in the concentration of carbon dioxide across the membrane to remove oxygen without any power consumption requirement. The results of this study are promising for the application of O₂ reduction in diesel HDVs.