From a fixed bed Ag–alumina catalyst to a modified reactor design: how to enhance the crucial heterogeneous–homogeneous reactions in HC-SCR

A highly active Ag/alumina catalyst for continuous reduction of NO to nitrogen with n-octane under lean conditions was prepared. It was observed in the reactor set-up experiments for optimization of the converter, that surface generated gas phase species are crucial for obtaining high conversion. EPR and matrix isolated FTIR studies at low temperature (10–18 K) were performed for identification of the radicals. Experimental data, observed at steady state conditions in the temperature range 300–550 °C, was used to produce an artificial neural network model of the catalytic converter with four catalyst beds.