Ceria-coated diesel particulate filters for continuous regeneration

The potential of diesel particulate filters wash-coated with highly dispersed nano-metric ceria particles for continuous regeneration has been investigated. To this end, catalytic filters were prepared, soot-loaded (avoiding the formation of the cake layer), and regenerated—under isothermal conditions—at temperature ranging from 200–600°C. Results have shown that catalytic oxidation of soot starts from 300°C and, at all temperatures, the selectivity to CO2 is higher than 99%. 475°C is the minimum temperature at which the filter is regenerated via catalytic path. At this temperature, the catalytic filter maintains substantially the same performance over repeated cycles of soot loading and regeneration, indicating that the thermal stability of ceria is preserved. This has been further confirmed by comparison between the outcomes obtained from characterization (X-ray powder diffraction, N2 adsorption at 77 K, Hg intrusion porosimetry, and scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive X-ray analysis) of fresh filter and filter subjected to repeated regeneration tests.