Patent ID: RE44753

Claim:
A method of heating up a reducing agent generation system of an exhaust gas aftertreatment system of an internal combustion engine by combustion of fuel, the reducing agent generation system comprising a plasma burner, a mixing chamber located downstream or upstream from the a plasma chamber, an oxidation reformation unit, and a combined nitrogen oxide storage and ammonia production unit, the method comprising: producing the reducing agent for selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides in an exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine in the intermittently operated reducing agent generation system; producing nitrogen oxide in a plasma in the plasma burner, wherein the combustion of the fuel is ignited by the plasma; producing nitrogen oxide in a nitrogen oxide production phase, in the plasma of the plasma burner; metering fuel into the mixing chamber and in a subsequent ignition phase the fuel is ignited by the plasma, and in a subsequent heating phase the plasma is turned off; and additionally metering fuel into the mixing chamber and combusting the fuel and in a subsequent hydrogen production phase, ending the fuel combustion and vaporizing the fuel in the mixing chamber.