Performance of potassium-promoted catalysts for NOx and soot removal from simulated diesel exhaust

In order to elucidate the effect of support in the catalytic performance, two selected potassium-promoted catalysts (K1Cu/beta and KCu2/Al2O3) were tested for the simultaneous NOx/soot removal from a simulated diesel exhaust. For comparative purpose, the behaviour of a platinum catalyst (Pt/beta) was also studied. Isothermal experiments revealed that the potassium-promoted catalysts show a high activity for NOx/soot removal in the 350–450 °C temperature range. In addition, the catalysts present the advantage that the main reaction products are N2 and CO2. Among the catalysts tested, KCu2/Al2O3 presents the best global performance at 450 °C: the highest soot consumption rate, even higher than the platinum catalysts, and a high NOx reduction.