Thermal Management on Demand; the Exhaust Aftertreatment Solution for Future Heavy Duty Application

The currently discussed NOx limits reductions for commercial vehicles in Europe and in the USA for 2024 and 2027 will require a new approach for exhaust gas after treatment in order to keep greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions within the limits. Heating will be required in cold start and low load operation to achieve high NOx-conversion rates for the targeted limits. Placing of catalysts closer to the engine (= passive heating) and insulation seems to be not enough and means at the same time a larger modification of existing configurations. Active heating of existing configurations – with minor changes – shows a big opportunity. Active heating is typically associated with a fuel penalty. Therefore, this measure needs to be very effective. Generating heat by fuel conversion in a catalyst – directly in the exhaust system, close to the SCR system – has the advantage of high thermal efficiency combined with low heat losses.