Patent ID: 8459010

Claim:
A method of controlling nitrous oxide emissions in an exhaust emitted from a lean internal combustion engine that operates using fuel with a lean air/fuel mixture and produces a lean air/fuel mixture in the exhaust having an air/fuel ratio λ greater than 1, comprising: providing a catalytic converter comprising a catalytic metal secured to a substrate that has templated pores within an exhaust stream produced by the internal combustion engine, wherein sulfur species from the exhaust deposit on the catalytic converter; introducing into the exhaust stream, upstream from the catalytic converter a predetermined amount of a regeneration fuel for a resident time period in order to oxidize the sulfur species and de-sulfate the catalytic converter until the air/fuel ratio λ of the exhaust lean air/fuel mixture is greater than 1 after introduction of the regenerating fuel; and heating the exhaust upstream relative to the catalytic converter to a temperature above a range of exhaust temperatures over which the internal combustion operates thereby heating the catalytic metal and the substrate.