What causes urea crystallization? What consequences can it have for our vehicle? And most importantly, how can we avoid it? Diesel engines that maintain an intermittent pace of work, with constant engine stops and starts, often produce small urea sediments in the SCR system. In the long term, this solid crystallization can clog the catalytic converter and cause a breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, we will briefly explain urea crystallization, its causes, and how you can prevent this from happening to ultimately improve the lifecycle of your diesel vehicle<\/strong> and save on maintenance costs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AdBlue is a colourless liquid, composed of de-mineralized water and automotive-grade urea (32.5%), as set out in the ISO 22241 standard. It is designed to reduce the most harmful gases emitted by diesel engines, making them more friendly to and respectful of the planet. Specifically, its function is to neutralize nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions derived from diesel combustion in the engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does AdBlue work exactly? From the first air-diesel mixture that enters the engine to explode in the cylinders, the SCR system redirects the most polluting gases. The injection of AdBlue into the engine creates a chemical reaction through a process known as hydrolysis, which converts NOx into free nitrogen (N2) and water vapour (H2O), completely harmless gases that are eventually expelled from the vehicle’s exhaust pipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we know how AdBlue works, it’s important to know why temperature is key to optimal operation. Some diesel vehicles, equipped with an SCR catalytic converter, are used for work that requires intermittent speed. Tractors, delivery vans, buses or even cars that drive on short journeys and with constant stops, do not always ensure that the chemical reaction between AdBlue and NOx gases is efficient. That is precisely due to the temperature, since they cannot maintain the required 260\u00baC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What happens when the diesel vehicle does not maintain the engine temperature? If the optimal temperature is not reached, the proper chemical reaction of AdBlue may not occur and, as a result, the urea it contains may crystallize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the diesel vehicle engine does not work at a constant rate and the engine temperature is not maintained for a while at 260\u00baC, urea can crystallize, becoming small sediments that are trapped in the system. In the long term, these solid crystals can end up clogging the injectors and particulate filter in the SCR system, which will eventually cause problems with the catalytic converter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What happens if the catalytic converter is clogged? AdBlue will not be able to react with combustion gases and NOx neutralisation will not take place. This means that the vehicle may see the performance of the engine reduced and even stop working until the fault is solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are solutions that reduce NOx emissions, prevent crystallization in SCR systems, and clean existing sediments. This is the case of Effinox AdBlue Premium Solution<\/a>, which works in a very similar way to AdBlue in reducing NOx emissions, but with the added bonus of preventing and eliminating possible sediments derived from the crystallization of urea in the catalyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Effinox<\/strong>\u00a0is a ready-to-use liquid with 32.5% urea, demineralized water and a special additive that complies with ISO 22241\/1, the\u00a0standard that sets the standards for AdBlue<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 including the physical properties defined in Appendix A.2, where the surface tension of the product is defined as a minimum of 65 mN\/m. Thus, in addition to converting polluting gases into nitrogen and water vapour, which are harmless to health and the environment, Effinox provides two additional advantages: it\u00a0prevents the creation of new urea deposits in the SCR system and cleans existing ones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, unlike other additive solutions, Effinox can be used directly as if it were AdBlue, refueling directly in the AdBlue tank, so that manipulation is avoided and the correct measurements of the formula are ensured so that it works correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regular use of Effinox therefore improves the maintenance of the SCR system and helps to extend the service life of the diesel vehicle. Here you can find out more about our\u00a0solution to prevent and clean urea crystallization<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What causes urea crystallization? What consequences can it have for our vehicle? And most importantly, how can we avoid it? Diesel engines that maintain an intermittent pace of work, with constant engine stops and starts, often produce small urea sediments in the SCR system. In the long term, this solid crystallization can clog the catalytic … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":43496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Prevent Urea Crystallization in SCR Systems Effectively","_seopress_titles_desc":"Discover causes & solutions to urea crystallization in diesel engines. Optimize the lifecycle of your vehicle & avoid costly maintenance.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1560,1623,1437,1195],"tags":[1471],"class_list":["post-52901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-effinox-en-gb","category-effinox-4-en-gb","category-greenchem-en-gb","category-scr-en-gb-2","tag-effinox-en-gb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53374,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52901\/revisions\/53374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenchemstaging.maarevenonline.nl\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is AdBlue and how does it work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How does urea crystallization occur?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What are the consequences of crystallization on the SCR system?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How can we prevent urea crystallization?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n