Besides the work associated with combustion, part of my research work focused on the optimization of pollution abatement systems, in particular for the following activities: :

  • development of new catalytic reactors for natural gas vehicles. These devices have been developed for the mitigation of nitrogen oxide releases in exhaust gas using methane as a reducing agent. This work was conducted in collaboration with IST Lisbon and GDF-Suez during the thesis of A. Nobre Mendes * (defended in 2015) and has been the subject of a patent B1 and an article in Applied Catalysis A P1.
  • Analysis of catalyst aging processes and poisoning by alkali metals (sodium and potassium in the present case) from exhaust gases emitted by vehicles running on bio-diesel (Y. Xie thesis ** ) [P2, P3].

 

* A. Nobre Mendes. Development of an innovative system for pollution abatement in the new natural gas vehicles. PhD thesis, IST, UPMC, Lisbonne, 2015.

** Yquian Xie. On the Performance of Oxidation Catalysts and SCR Catalysts in the Presence of Alkali Compounds Representative of Biofuel Contaminants: from the Commercial Catalysts to the Active Phase. PhD thesis, UPMC, 2017.

 

Related publications

[P1] A. Nobre Mendes, A. Matynia, A. Toullec, Sandra Capela, M. Filipa Ribeiro, C. Henriques, and P. Da Costa. Potential synergic effect between MOR and BEA zeolites in NOx SCR with methane: A dual bed design approach. Applied Catalysis A: General, 506:246–253, 2015.

[P2] Y. Xie, E. Rodrigues, N. Furtado, A. Matynia, T. Arlt, P. Rodatz, and P. Da Costa. Aging of Commercial Diesel Oxidation Catalysts: A preliminary Structure/Reactivity Study. Topics in Catalysis, 59(10-12):1039–1043, 2016.

[P3] Y. Xie, M. E. Galvez, A. Matynia and P. Da Costa. Experimental investigation on the influence of the presence of alkali compounds on the performance of a commercial Pt–Pd/Al2O3 diesel oxidation catalyst. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 20(4):715–725, 2018.

 

Related patents

[B1] C. Henriques, P. Da Costa, A. Nobre Mendes, S. Capela, M.F. Gomes Ribeiro, A. Paula, A. Matynia, and E. Galvez Parruca. Procédé de fabrication d’un catalyseur destiné à être intégré dans un système de pot catalytique, 2017.