Experimental Study for Selective Reduction of NO x 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 (NO x ) removal from diesel engine flue gases. Two samples of AC are investigated, namely, (1) raw-AC, named AC 0 , and (2) urea-supported-AC, named AC 1 . A regeneration of AC 0 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 NO x -adsorption capability of AC 0 and AC 1 . The NO x amount, which is chemically converted using AC 1 , equals 80%. Activated carbon could be a promoted precursor whether as NO x Storage Reduction (NSR) or as a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) using urea.