Systems and methods for selective catalytic reduction and/or ammonia slip catalyst sulfur protection

A system, comprising:

• a controller comprising at least one processor coupled to at least one memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to perform operations including:
• predicting a sulfur exposure of one or more copper-zeolite catalysts deployed in an exhaust aftertreatment system;
• comparing the sulfur exposure to a predefined sulfur exposure threshold;
• and
• responsive to the sulfur exposure being at or above the predefined sulfur exposure threshold, causing a heating of the one or more copper-zeolite catalysts to a predefined heat treatment temperature for a predefined time period to desulfate the one or more copper-zeolite catalysts.

A method comprising:

• providing a zeolite material including a plurality of zeolite active sites, wherein hydrogen ions are bounded to one or more of the plurality of zeolite active sites;
• performing an ion-exchange process with copper ions to exchange the hydrogen ions with the copper ions to form copper-zeolite particles;
• forming a slurry including the copper-zeolite particles;
• providing the slurry onto a substrate to form a zeolite-coated catalyst structure;
• and
• heating the zeolite-coated catalyst structure to a predefined heat treatment temperature for predefined heat treatment time period to transform the zeolite-coated catalyst structure into a heat treated zeolite-coated catalyst structure.