A novel diesel particulate converter

A novel design of an electrochemical reactor for filtering and continuous combustion of soot particles was developed. Such a reactor consists of a porous, oxygen-ion conducting material covered by catalytically active, electron-conductive electrodes, electrical connections and an external power supply. The manufacturing process was developed for high-porosity, ion- and electron-conducting ceramic monoliths from nanosize powders by extrusion followed by coating techniques, The performed catalytic tests proved that the efficiency of the reactor for soot removal is above 90% at low flow conditions (GHSV = 13000(-1)) and 75% for high flow (GHSV = 39000(-1)) in the temperature range 250-500degreesC. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.