The soot trap

Description: Research Fields:ChemistrySolid State Research/Material SciencesManufacturers of diesel-fueled vehicles are working feverishly on a filter concept that will decrease the emission of diesel soot. Standard impedance filters can, over time, become clogged and must then be regenerated. This requires additives and additional maintenance time and costs.During the course of a joint project, scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have discovered that soot particles from modern commercial vehicle motors are struc-tured in a totally different manner than has been generally assumed: Through improved com-bustion, substantially smaller, fullerene-like soot particles are formed. These are much more reactive than soot from earlier generations of engines and can therefore be broken down through the nitrogen oxide that is contained in exhaust.Based on the basic researchers’ findings, engineers at filter manufacturer EMITEC and MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG have developed a new, open system that does not have to rely on renewal and additives: The "soot trap" holds back the soot particles long enough until they have been burned off by the nitrogen oxide of the exhaust and turned into carbon dioxide. The expulsion of soot is consequently reduced by up to 90 percent.The project, which was supported by the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (Bavarian Research Foundation), included: The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, the TU Munich, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and Ober-land Mangold GmbH.Copyright: © Deutsche WellePublished at ScienceStage.com in cooperation with the Max Planck Society.Involved Institutes: Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society