Keywords

Aviation, Sustainability, NOx Reduction, Ammonia, Catalysis

Subject Categories

Aerospace Engineering | Chemical Engineering | Propulsion and Power

Abstract

As the aviation industry continues to grow, the ever-increase of emissions from the sector becomes a growing concern. While the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, there are other emissions like contrails and NOx that must still be addressed. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) has been used in the transportation and power generation industry for over two decades and has been an effective solution for NOx reduction. Even with the success SCR has had in other industries, its capabilities in the aviation industry have been trivially investigated. Aircraft engines pose an unique challenge when designing an SCR system, with high flowrates in a small area available for a system to be implemented. With this, pressure drop, and Gas Hourly Space Velocity (GHSV) become even more important factors to consider when designing an SCR system for an aircraft engine. The process of SCR requires NOx mixed with a reducing agent passing through a catalyst to produce water and nitrogen. A possible solution to net-zero carbon emissions is ammonia as a fuel or hydrogen carrier. With this pathway, a small amount of the ammonia can be allocated to the SCR system to eliminate NOx. For aircraft with other fuels, separate systems carrying reactants could be placed onboard to supply the SCR system. This thesis looks at an iron oxide catalyst that is supported by 2-DFunctionalized Boron, which is a novel support for iron oxide in SCR applications, at the temperature ranges found in the exhaust of commercial aircraft engines. An experimental rig was created to simulate steady state conditions at a wide range of temperatures to validate SCR is occurring and to obtain the rate constant of the catalyst.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Summer

Committee Chair

Kapat, Jayanta

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Format

PDF

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

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