Experimental Study for Selective Reduction of NOx from Diesel Engine Exhaust Gases at Low Temperature Using Activated Carbon

Due to its porous texture and heterogeneous surface chemistry, activated carbon (AC) gained interest in the removal of pollutants. The present work aims at investigating granular activated carbon selectivity for nitrogen oxides (NOx) removal from diesel engine flue gases. Two samples of AC are investigated, namely, (1) raw-AC, named AC0, and (2) urea-supported-AC, named AC1. A regeneration of AC0 is conducted using a heat treatment at 800 °C. This study follows two pathways. First, a deep analysis of physical–chemical characters of activated carbon samples is carried out. The characteristic of activated carbon includes Brunauer-Emett-Teller (BET), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Boehm titration analysis. Second, experiments are conducted using the exhaust system post treatment to investigate the NOx-adsorption capability of AC0 and AC1. The NOx amount, which is chemically converted using AC1, equals 80%. Activated carbon could be a promoted precursor whether as NOx Storage Reduction (NSR) or as a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) using urea.