Characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emissions from diesel engine retrofitted with selective catalytic reduction and continuously regenerating trap

Two after treatment units, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and continuously regenerating trap (CRT), were independently retrofitted to a diesel engine, with the objective to investigate their impact on the conversion/reduction (CR) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The experiments were conducted under the European steady state cycle (ESC) first without any retrofits to get baseline emissions, and then with SCR and CRT respectively, on the same engine. The particulate matter (PM)-phase PAHs were trapped in fiberglass filters, whereas gas-phase PAHs were collected in cartridges, and then analyzed using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Both PM-phase and gas-phase PAHs were greatly reduced with CRT showing respective CR of 90.7% and above 80%, whereas only gas-phase PAHs were abated in the case of SCR, with CR of above 75%. Lower molecular weight (LMW) PAHs were in abundance, while naphthalene exhibited a maximum relative contribution (RC) to LMW-PAHs for all three cases. Further, the CR of naphthalene and anthracene were increased with increasing catalyst temperature of SCR, most likely due to their conversion to solid particles. Moreover, the Benzo[a]Pyrene equivalent (BaP_eq) of PAHs was greatly reduced with CRT, owing to substantial reduction of total PAHs.