Patent ID: 8356474

Claim:
A method of operating a power generation system, comprising: operating a compression ignition diesel engine to produce a lean exhaust; channeling the exhaust through a fuel reformer and a lean NO X trap, in that order; from time-to-time, heating the fuel reformer to an operating temperature range and the lean NO X trap to a desulfating temperature range; and maintaining the lean NO X trap within the desulfating temperature range while desulfating the lean NO X trap by controlling a fuel injection into the lean exhaust upstream from the fuel reformer to be intermittent, creating alternating lean and rich phases within the fuel reformer and the lean NO X trap, in a manner that causes fuel, or reformed fuel from the rich phases to react with oxygen from the lean phases within the lean NO X trap to an extent that contributes to maintaining the lean NO X trap within the desulfating temperature range, causes the lean NO X trap to reach temperatures exceeding those reached by the fuel reformer, and enables the lean NO X trap to reach a peak temperature that is at least 50° C. above the peak temperature of the exhaust entering the lean NO X trap; wherein during the rich phases, the fuel reformer consumes the majority of the oxygen in the exhaust while producing reformate; and the lean NO X trap is a device that adsorbs NO X under lean conditions and reduces and releases adsorbed NO X under rich conditions.