Sara Sebelius
Postdoctoral researcher / Postdoc
Tel: +46 (0)8 790 8249
Research field/interests
Selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (SCR) is one of a few existing technologies that can achieve as low NOx levels EuroVI and other emission standards will require for heavy duty vehicles. SCR works by addition of a urea-water solution called AdBlue (urea is the precursor to reducing agent ammonia) to the exhaust gas to remove poisonous nitrogen oxides.
A problem with the urea-water solution is that in certain circumstances it forms byproducts that crystallize on the walls of the exhaust pipe. Urea deposits may block the exhaust system and harm the catalyst.The circumstances of the crystallization is not completely known, although this is a well known problem in the industry.
This project aims to build a deeper understanding of the complex chemistry of urea and crystallization process. Desired and undesired reactions are studied by TGA-DSC and FTIR in the laboratory and by DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations.
