Druga gimnazija Sarajevo

International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme

Chemistry

ESSAY

SCR and ground-ozone pollution

Word count: 1488

Student: Teacher:

Faruk Ibrahimović Stanislava Marjanović

Contents
Ground-ozone pollution................................................................................................................................ 2

How does selective catalytic reduction work?..................................................................................... 3

Limitations.......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Benefits................................................................................................................................................................ 5

Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................... 6

Bibliography....................................................................................................................................................... 7

WWW Pages................................................................................................................................................. 7

Scientific Articles........................................................................................................................................ 8

Government Fact Sheets.......................................................................................................................... 8

1
Ground-ozone pollution

Ozone (O3) is a gas which is naturally found in the stratosphere and protects us

from harmful UV rays that the sun emits. However, ever since the industrial revolution

and the rise in various pollutants, ozone has started to appear in the troposphere,

especially in urban areas. Although useful in the upper layers of the earth, ozone is very

unhealthy for humans and plants alike. Breathing in the gas can trigger a wide range of

health problems some of which are: chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and

congestion1. It can worsen bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. Ozone can also reduce

lung function and inflame the lining of the lungs and repeated exposure can also

permanently scar lung tissue 2. When it comes to plants, ozone inhibits the ability of

plants to open microscopic pores on their leaves to breathe 3. It also interferes with the

photosynthesis process by reducing the amount of CO2 the plants can release as oxygen.4

Unlike other harmful gases, ozone is not emitted directly into the air, it is the

product of a chemical reaction between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and VOCs (volatile

organic compounds). These gasses are emitted by cars, power plants, chemical plants

and many more. When heat and sunlight interact with these gasses, ozone is formed.

Many regulations have been set in place to limit the production of these gases. As a

result, advances have been made in low-pollution technology, one of those being

selective catalytic reduction. It is an additional component to the classic diesel motor

that reduces tailpipe NOx emissions to near zero levels. In 2018, 4.6 million diesel cars

were sold5, making them a major pollutant. So, the question is, is SCR worth

1
“Effects of Ground Level Ozone” <https://www.iowadnr.gov/Environmental-Protection/Air-Quality/Air-
Pollutants/Effects-Ozone> (25 Sep. 2022)
2
ibid
3
ibid
4
ibid
5
“DIESEL” <https://www.greencarreports.com/news/diesel> (25 Sep.2022)

2
implementing in all diesel engines? This question will be discussed through the

environmental factor.

How does selective catalytic reduction work?

Before we can understand how SCR works, we must first understand how diesel engines

work. The main principle of the diesel engine is converting chemical energy to kinetic

energy i.e., burning fuel. The engine consists of a crank and cylinder which together is

called the crank-cylinder mechanism (can be seen on image 1) which turns linear

motion of the piston (which will be pushed around by the chemical reactions) into

rotational motion.

Diesel engines work on a 4-step system, the first one being the suction stroke

(labelled as intake in the image). In this step, the cylinder gets filled with fresh air, in

other words, the engine breathes.

Piston

Image 1: 4 steps of diesel motor6

6
“How Diesel Engines Work: Explaining the Function of compression Ignition Engines”, 11 Jan.
2018<https://blog.diamondracing.net/how-does-a-diesel-engine-work> (25 Sep. 2022)

3
The next step is the return stroke (labelled as compression). In this step, the air inside

the cylinder gets compressed, since work is done on the air the pressure of the air

increases as well as the temperature. This leads to the next step, the power stroke, the

atomized diesel explodes, increasing the pressure and temperature even more, pushing

down the cylinder. Moving on to step 4, the exhaust stroke, due to the inertia of the

cylinder, the crank rotates and pushes the piston back up, with the piston pushing the

air and side products of explosion with it through the exhaust valve. Now, the cycle is

ready to start again with the suction stroke. The actual design of diesel engines is more

complex than this since there are a fair few nuances that need to be sorted out, but this

is the basic working principle of the engine.

The part SCR focuses on is the exhaust stroke. The hot fluids that are released

through the exhaust include NOx which is one of the ingredients for ozone. The exhaust

gases go into a special catalyst chamber (chamber lined with a catalyst) where they

react with DEF (diesel exhaust fluid, usually about 30% urea and 70% deionized water),

reducing the gases into diatomic nitrogen, water vapor and trace amounts of CO 2.

Limitations

One of the biggest, if not the biggest limitations wit SCR is their inability to work

at low temperatures (low being under 200 degrees Celsius). The ability to work in

environments above 200 degrees Celsius is brought upon by the catalyst in the catalyst

chamber7 (if it were not for the catalyst it would need to react under even higher

temperatures). This can present trouble when just starting the car and especially in

7
Fu, Mengfan & Li, Caiting & Lu, Pei & Qu, Long & Zhang, Mengying & Zhou, Yang & Yu, Minge & Fang, Yang. (2014). A
review on selective catalytic reduction of NOx by supported catalysts at 100-300°C - Catalysts, mechanism, kinetics.
Catalysis Science & Technology. 4. 14. 10.1039/c3cy00414g.

4
colder climates. If the temperature is not high enough, nothing will be filtered and diesel

exhaust fluid will leak through the catalyst chamber, causing possible clogging since the

DEF freezes under -12 degrees Celsius 8, which can cause the engine to halt abruptly.

This of course, from the environmental factor is very bad. Especially when its colder

outside people will be inclined to use their car instead of biking or walking and this

degree of risk one takes when using an SCR engine makes it less likely to be used and

even if it is used the NOx would not be filtered out properly.

Aside from clogging from freezing, when ammonium (from the DEF) slips it can

plug or corrode downstream components and it can be absorbed by fly ash which may

affect disposal or reuse of the ash, another environmental hazard 9.

Another limitation of using SCR on diesel vehicles is the fact that diesel engines

pollute much less than other petrol-based engines in addition to the fact that diesel

engines are considerably rarer than petrol-based engines. When looking at the fuel

types of new cars in 2020, about 29.9% are diesel while 52.3% are petrol 10. This means

that not that much NOx is being filtered and it could be more efficient to focus new

technology efforts on petrol cars.

Benefits

Since in many regions, NOx is highly controlled that is, there are many policies

enforcing limited emissions of NOx, car manufacturers are incentivised to implement

SCR into their engines because it would cost more to pay the fines for breaking the

policies than to implement SCR in their cars. This creates a compounding effect where
8
“TIPS FOR HANDLOING EXHAUST FLUID IN COLD WEATHER” <https://bluenetwork.ca/tips-for-handling-diesel-
exhaust-fluid-in-cold-weather/> (26 Sep. 2022)
9
Air Pollution Control Technology Selective Catalytic Reduction [Fact Sheet],
https://www3.epa.gov/ttncatc1/dir1/fscr.pdf
10
“Fuel types of new cars: petrol 52.3%, diesel 29.9%, electric 6.8% market share first quarter of 2020”
<https://www.acea.auto/fuel-pc/fuel-types-of-new-cars-petrol-52-3-diesel-29-9-electric-6-8-market-share-first-
quarter-of-2020/> (26 Sep. 2022)

5
research is done on more efficient selective catalytic reduction (because of the fact that

manufacturers are in need of them) and so manufacturers can afford to implement

more SCR engines into their cars in turn reducing emissions.

Another benefit that SCR offers is their incredible efficiency in reducing NOx

emissions. The NOx reduction rate varies from 70% to 90% 11 and new technologies

offer even higher reduction rates and will in time be implemented (right now they are

not cost effective). It is only a matter of time until these emission rates go down to near-

zero levels in every vehicle, which is why it is essential to keep using this technology to

support the development of new improvements to the already efficient system.

In addition to the fact that SCR is efficient, DEF a consumable which needs to be

refilled in order for SCR to work is available in almost every gas station that has diesel,

allowing SCR technology to be used everywhere and not just in select places where it

can be found.

Conclusion

In summary, ground-ozone is a hazard to both human and plants and should not

be present in our living sphere. Ground-ozone is formed when NOx and volatile organic

compounds come into contact with each other in presence of heat and sunlight. If we

keep NOx to a minimum we can limit the production of ground-ozone. This is what SCR

technology does, filters out the NOx in diesel engines. The downsides of SCR are that

diesel engines are not as abundant as other engines; they don’t work the best under

colder conditions in addition to the fact that if ammonium (from the DEF) slips through

it can cause even more issues. On the other side, SCR is extremely efficient and there is a

high incentive to keep improving the technology due to various policies on NOx.
11
Air Pollution Control Technology Selective Catalytic Reduction [Fact Sheet]
https://www3.epa.gov/ttncatc1/dir1/fscr.pdf

6
 All the limitations that I mentioned could be simply improved with more fine

tuning of the process and continuing ongoing research on catalysts or by adding a

heater next to the catalyst chamber which would use more power but would prevent

the ammonium from slipping and NOx from not reacting.

To answer the research question, I would say that it is definitely worth

implementing. Even though it has a few drawbacks, with time they will be solved and

unless you live on a very cold climate SCR will work without fuss and decrease NOx in

the world, also decreasing ground-ozone pollution.

Bibliography

WWW Pages

“Effects of Ground Level Ozone”

<https://www.iowadnr.gov/Environmental-Protection/Air-Quality/Air-

Pollutants/Effects-Ozone> (25 Sep. 2022)

“Ground-level Ozone Basics”

<https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/ground-level-ozone-

basics> (25 Sep. 2022)

“Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)”

<https://www.dieselforum.org/selective-catalytic-reduction-scr> (25 Sep. 2022)

“DIESEL”

<https://www.greencarreports.com/news/diesel> (25 Sep.2022)

“How Diesel Engines Work: Explaining the Function of compression Ignition Engines”,

11 Jan. 2018
7
 <https://blog.diamondracing.net/how-does-a-diesel-engine-work> (25 Sep.

2022)

“TIPS FOR HANDLOING EXHAUST FLUID IN COLD WEATHER”

<https://bluenetwork.ca/tips-for-handling-diesel-exhaust-fluid-in-cold-

weather/> (26 Sep. 2022)

Scientific Articles

Fu, Mengfan & Li, Caiting & Lu, Pei & Qu, Long & Zhang, Mengying & Zhou, Yang & Yu,

Minge & Fang, Yang. (2014).

A review on selective catalytic reduction of NOx by supported catalysts at 100-

300°C - Catalysts, mechanism, kinetics. Catalysis Science & Technology. 4. 14.

10.1039/c3cy00414g.

Government Fact Sheets

Air Pollution Control Technology

Selective Catalytic Reduction [Fact Sheet]

https://www3.epa.gov/ttncatc1/dir1/fscr.pdf