M.Sc. or B. Sc. Project at DTU Chemistry and Umicore
There is currently an increased focus on lowering emission of polluting gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel exhaust in Europe as well as in many other parts of the world. Selective catalytic reduction by ammonia (NH3-SCR) is one of the preferred technologies to remove harmful NOx. Especially for the abatement of NOx in diesel vehicles, Cu-doped zeolites is one of the preferred catalyst materials, but the development of next generation materials requires an in-depth understanding of the active site microenvironment.
Zeolites are microporous crystalline aluminosilicates with pores of the same dimension as many small molecules. Zeolites find many uses in industry as adsorbants, ion-exchangers and catalysts. In catalysis it is typically the ability of the zeolite to combine the molecular sieve-effect from the small pores with the ability to act as solid acids that provides the catalytic activity. Electron spin resonance (ESR) is a powerful technique for identifying and quantifying even small amounts of paramagnetic species present in these materials.
It is the aim of this project to study industrially relevant zeolite materials under both ambient (ex-situ) and working (in-situ) conditions using ESR spectroscopy. Catalytically active Cu-sites in the zeolite should be monitored by ESR during various pre-treatment conditions whereby information on chemistry and microenvironment in the zeolite can be deduced. This should be linked to kinetic data from catalytic experiments and potentially correlated with activity and aging behaviour to help improve design of next generation catalysts.
- Zeolite-based materials will be supplied and if relevant prepared together with Umicore
- ESR spectroscopy will be carried out at DTU Chemistry
- Catalytic data will be carried out together with Umicore
Supervisor at DTU Chemistry, Centre for Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry: Associate Professor Susanne Mossin, slmo@kemi.dtu.dk, office 156/B206.
Supervisor at Umicore Denmark, Principal Scientist and Project Manager Peter N. R. Vennestrøm, peter.vennestrom@eu.umicore.com