Evaluation of Accelerated Ash Loading Procedures for Diesel Particulate Filters 2016-01-0939

There are numerous methods for accelerated ash loading of particulate traps known from literature. However, it is largely unknown if a combination of these methods is possible and which one generates the most similar ash compared to ash from real particulate filters. Since the influencing variables on the ash formation are not yet fully understood, ashing processes are carried out under carefully controlled laboratory conditions on an engine test bench. The first ashing takes place with low sulfated ash phosphorus and sulfur oil without any methods to increase the quantity of produced ash. The obtained ash is used as a reference and is compared hereinafter with the process examined. Four methods to increase the ash production ratio are investigated. The first one is an increase of the ash content of the lubrication oil through an increase of the additives in the oil. The second one is the additional generation of ash with a burner system where oil is injected into the flame. The next one is the injection of oil into the inlet manifold and the last one is the doping of fuel with engine oil. The accelerated ash loading processes are run in the same test cycle and with the same engine as the reference run. Thus, a direct comparison of the different methods is possible. The resulting ash is evaluated in terms of deposition, morphology and composition, recovery rate and differential pressure. Next to this, the time saving factor is calculated and compared to the reference.