It is well-known that catalytic emission control strategies for vehicles exact a toll on vehicle fuel economy. With the requirements to drastically increase the corporate average fuel economy, such fuel economy penalties will no longer be acceptable, and a new approach to gasoline vehicle emission control catalysis is needed. This GOALI proposal brings together a team of researchers from academia and industry in a quest to arrive at a detailed understanding how new fuel economy-enabling powertrain technologies such as gasoline-electric hybrids, engine start-stop features, down-sized turbocharged engines with direct injection, and use of reformulated gasoline or E-85 impacts the function and deactivation modes of existing three-way Pd catalyst materials. The proposal will also address methods for curtailing and, ideally even reversing catalyst deactivation on the vehicle during actual operation. Traditionally, catalyst deactivation has only been looked at from a post mortem perspective. There is a dearth of investigations of the time-dependent changes occurring in emission control catalysts when exposed to emissions from engines operating under various exhaust gas environments and temperature regimes. Professor Johannes Schwank, Adjunct Professor Galen Fisher, and Dr. Xiaoyin Chen at the University of Michigan will closely collaborate with Dr. Robert McCabe at Ford Motor Company to utilize sophisticated probe reaction analysis and characterization techniques to elucidate the complete evolution of the Pd catalyst from its initial to final states, with the goal of identifying opportunities to modify the engine operation in ways that either mitigate catalyst deactivation or reverse deactivation processes. The hypothesis is that different aging protocols lead to different outcomes in catalyst structure and performance. This hypothesis will be tested by a comprehensive catalyst characterization effort at different stages of aging.
In terms of broader impact, this research will aid the design of future automotive emission control technologies, while also improving the performance and durability of existing automotive exhaust catalyst technologies. The results will assist in developing methods to track the aging process on the vehicle and either avoid severe aging modes or actively intervene at various points to preserve or regenerate the catalyst. Given the close proximity of the two institutions, the project will provide opportunities for Ford researchers to participate in experiments at UM, and UM faculty and students to experience working in an industrial research laboratory at Ford, thereby giving the students an educational experience that goes beyond typical academic settings.
