<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><div><b style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in; "><o:p> </o:p></b></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">PhD DEFENSE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Tayebeh
Hamzehlouyan</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: '$B#M#S(B $B#P%4%7%C%/(B', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">DATE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">July
15, 2015</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: '$B#M#S(B $B#P%4%7%C%/(B', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">TIME: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">2:30
PM</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: '$B#M#S(B $B#P%4%7%C%/(B', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">PLACE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">ChBE
Conference Room<b> </b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: '$B#M#S(B $B#P%4%7%C%/(B', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">DISSERTATION CHAIR: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Dr.
William Epling</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: '$B#M#S(B $B#P%4%7%C%/(B', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:24.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><hr size="2" width="100%" align="center"></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:22.5pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">TITLE:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:22.5pt"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-transform: uppercase; ">Interactions between sulfur oxides and a Pt-based diesel oxidation catalyst </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; text-transform: uppercase; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Thesis-Text" align="left" style="text-align:left;text-indent:0in;line-height:150%"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class="Thesis-Text" align="left" style="text-align:left;text-indent:0in;line-height:150%"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class="Thesis-Text" style="line-height:150%">Sulfur is a common poison for automotive catalysts. Sulfur oxides in the engine exhaust adsorb onto and interact with catalytic converters leading to catalyst deactivation. SO<sub>2</sub> is the main sulfur species
exiting the engine, which can be further oxidized to SO<sub>3</sub> over an oxidation catalyst with subsequent H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> formation in the presence of water. For diesel engines in particular, SO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>3</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>
may have different impacts on the diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) activity, as well as the activity of catalysts further downstream. In the present PhD research project, the interactions between sulfur oxides and a model Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> DOC
were investigated. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="Thesis-Text" style="line-height:150%">SO<sub>2</sub> oxidation on a Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalyst was experimentally studied and a steady-state kinetic model was developed to describe SO<sub>2</sub> oxidation on the catalyst. The modeling
results revealed that the relative importance of the individual rates in the reaction mechanism, as well as the surface coverages, were strongly temperature dependent.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Thesis-Text" style="line-height:150%">SO<sub>2</sub> storage and release on/from $B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> were studied to understand the transient phenomena that occur upon a DOC’s exposure to SO<sub>2</sub>.
Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and <i>in-situ</i> diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) experiments were performed to identify sulfur species formed on both catalysts. Adsorption data verified that $B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>
as a catalyst support significantly affects SO<sub>2</sub> storage and release over Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>. Based on the DRIFTS and TPD studies, multi-step reaction mechanisms were proposed for SO<sub>2</sub> adsorption and desorption on/from both
$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and kinetic models were developed.
<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Thesis-Text" style="line-height:150%">SO<sub>3</sub> adsorption and desorption on $B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> were studied using TPD and DRIFTS experiments. It was found that similar species form on $B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>
and Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> during SO<sub>3</sub> adsorption, however upon the adsorbed species decomposition, different sulfur species are released from the two samples.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Thesis-Text" style="line-height:150%">Different impacts of SO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>3</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> on Pt/$B&C(B-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> were studied using TPD experiments. The results show that the sulfur uptake as well as the
contribution of stable sulfates on the alumina support decreases in the following order: H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> > SO<sub>3</sub> > SO<sub>2</sub>. The results suggested that the degree of catalyst sulfation upon its saturation with different forms of
sulfur could represent the extent of deactivation. <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></span><style><!--
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