Abstract
The Wall-Flow Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) represent the best technology available to reduce Particulate Matter (PM or soot) emissions under EU standards: but they need a periodic regeneration. In the last years there has been a growing interest in using MW energy for DPF regeneration because of its instantaneous and selective heating process, which depends on the material dielectric properties. In a previous work presented at the PRES11 Conference, we showed that the simultaneous use of a Microwave applicator and a specifically catalysed DPF with 15 %wt of active species, allows to significatively reduce the energy and the time required for the filter regeneration. Starting by these very promising results, we continued to study in order to further improve the performances of the catalyzed DPF in terms of catalytic activity, in order to try to further lower the regeneration temperature, reducing so the energy required to ignite the combustion of the accumulated soot. In our work we want also verify the activity of the catalyzed DPF towards the NOx present in the diesel exhausts and verify the feasibility of this technology by assessing the energy balance of the entire process, in order to compare it to the regeneration technologies actually employed.
