Degreening
is crucial in obtaining a stable catalyst prior to assessing
its performance characteristics. This paper characterizes the
light-off behavior and conversion efficiency of a Diesel Oxidation
Catalyst (DOC) during the degreening process. A platinum DOC
is degreened for 16 hours in the presence of actual diesel engine
exhaust at 650°C and 10% water (H2O) concentration. The DOC's
activity for carbon monoxide (CO) and for total hydrocarbons
(THC) conversion is checked at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,
and 16 hours of degreening. Pre- and post-catalyst hydrocarbon
species are analyzed via gas chromatography at 0, 4, 8, and
16 hours of degreening. It is found that both light-off temperature
and species-resolved conversion efficiencies change rapidly
during the first 8 hours of degreening and then stabilize to
a large degree. T50, the temperature where the catalyst is 50%
active towards a particular species, increases by 14°C for CO
and by 11°C for THC through the degreening process. The shapes
of the conversion versus DOC inlet temperature curves are preserved.
With respect to species-resolved hydrocarbons, conversion efficiency
is always highest for acetylenes, followed by olefins, aromatics,
non-methane paraffins, and methane.