Emission removal performance of an electric heated and catalyst-coated gasoline particulate filter (EH-cGPF) at engine start

For more effective removal of emissions during gasoline engine start-up, a new exhaust gas aftertreatment device, an electrically heated and catalyst-coated gasoline particulate filter (EH-cGPF), was developed and evaluated. The unique structure of the electric heater directly heats the filter and occupies only 28% of the total volume of a conventional aftertreatment device (CETG), which is composed of an EHC (electrically heated catalyst), TWC (three-way catalyst), and GPF (gasoline particulate filter). Only half amounts of catalyst of CETG was used to EH-cGPF. This study showed that the EH-cGPF had similar emissions reduction by electric heating at engine starting conditions compared to a CETG even using less amount of catalyst. The particle-number reduction of EH-cGPF was also similar to that of the CETG, above 99%. However, the particle number reduction performance is not affected by electric heating with either the CETG or EH-cGPF.