The increasingly strict air emission regulations may require implementing Non-Selective Catalytic Reduction (NSCR) systems as a promising emission control technology for stationary rich burn spark ignition engines. Many recent experimental investigations that used NSCR systems for stationary natural gas fueled engines showed that NSCR systems were unable to consistently control the exhaust emissions level below the compliance limits. Modeling of NSCR components to better understand, and then exploit, the underlying physical processes that occur in the lambda sensor and the catalyst media is now...
The increasingly strict air emission regulations may require implementing Non-Selective Catalytic Reduction (NSCR) systems as a promising emission control technology for stationary rich burn spark ignition engines. Many recent experimental investigations that used NSCR systems for stationary natural gas fueled engines showed that NSCR systems were unable to consistently control the exhaust emissions level below the compliance limits. Modeling of NSCR components to better understand, and then exploit, the underlying physical processes that occur in the lambda sensor and the catalyst media is now considered an essential step toward improving NSCR system performance. This report focuses on modeling the lambda sensor that provides feedback to the air-to-fuel ratio controller. Correct interpretation of the sensor output signal is necessary to achieve consistently low emissions level. The goal of this modeling study is to improve the understanding of the physical processes that occur within the sensor, investigate the cross-sensitivity of various exhaust gas species on the sensor performance, and finally this model serves as a tool to improve NSCR control strategies. This model simulates the output from a planar switch type lambda sensor. The model consists of three modules. The first module models the multi-component mass transport through the sensor protective layer. The second module includes all the surface catalytic reactions that take place on the sensor platinum electrodes. The third module is responsible for simulating the reactions that occur on the electrolyte material and determine the sensor output voltage.