Research

The objective with the research programme for the Competence Centre for Catalysis is to develop an excellent research environment, performing high quality research in the field of catalysis for emission control and catalysis for sustainable energy systems.

The programme aims at developing new techniques, based on catalysis, with focus on reduction of emissions from vehicles and process industry. The research should also contribute to i) increase the energy efficiency in vehicles and industrial processes, ii) increase the use of renewable fuels, and iii) exploratory conduce to other areas where catalytic techniques can contribute to sustainable energy systems.

KCK is an interdisciplinary centre with close collaboration in the fields of chemistry, physics and material science. Experimental and theoretical methods are employed, both integrated and separate. The procedures most frequently used are wet chemical synthesis, electron beam lithography (EBL), colloidal lithography, flow reactor experiments, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), kinetic modelling, density functional theory (DFT) calculations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

The main areas of research within KCK are:

– Catalytic reduction of NOx under lean conditions

The aim of the program is to develop and enhance the methods for reduction of NOx in oxygen excess, which is essential for diesel- and lean-burn engines. Basically the problem is to add a reducing agent, which reacts with the nitrogen oxides but not with the oxygen in the exhaust gases. The amount of reducing agent needs, at the same time, to be low enough to minimise the fuel penalty (i.e. avoid lower fuel effectiveness). At present there are three main concepts to deal with this problem; i) NOx storage and reduction catalysts, ii) continuous catalytic reduction of NOx, and iii) selective catalytic reduction of NOx with urea or ammonia.

– Catalytic oxidation at low temperatures

The aim of the programme is to develop methods for oxidation of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, oxygenates, soot and particulates at low temperatures. The trend towards more fuel efficient engines results in low-temperature exhaust gases, which increases the demand on the after-treatment systems. When the fuel efficiency increases, the exhaust gas temperature decreases and the critical working temperature for the catalyst (below which the catalyst does not work properly) needs to be lowered. The demands on systems for energy efficient emission cleaning from chemical processes will increase accordingly. In both cases catalyst based systems, which are effective at low temperatures, are attractive solutions to meet the emission standards, today and in the future, and to avoid additional energy demands to increase the working temperature. The programme is mainly focusing on; i) composition and distribution of the active phase, ii) control of exhaust gas composition, and iii) optimisation of the heat distribution in the catalyst.

– Catalytic techniques for sustainable energy systems

Techniques based on catalysis can be used both for energy supply and increased energy effectiveness as well as in energy transfer processes. Fuel cells is one example of energy transfer applications, where nano-technology and electro-chemical catalysis are combined in the development of new effective and stable electrodes, which both reduce the need for expensive precious metals and increase the life time of the electrodes. Photo electro-chemical solar cells, e.g. the Grätzel cell, may be an opportunity for energy supply with solar energy, which uses photo catalysis in nano particle systems. However, the latter system is not likely to reach practical use in the near future. More close in time and urgent is, however, the possibility to use catalytic techniques for transformation of coal and biomass to fuels for vehicles, like synthetic petrol and Fischer-Tropsch diesel.