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Catalytic converter
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Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device which converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually used with internal combustion engines fueled by gasoline (petrol) or diesel, including lean-burn engines, and sometimes on kerosene heaters and stoves.
The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile market. To comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency's stricter regulation of exhaust emissions, most gasoline-powered vehicles starting with the 1975 model year are equipped with catalytic converters. These "two-way" oxidation converters combine oxygen with carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
"Three-way" converters, which also reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx), were first commercialized by Volvo on the California-specification 1977 240 cars. When U.S. federal emission control regulations began requiring tight control of NOx for the 1981 model year, most all automakers met the tighter standards with three-way catalytic converters and associated engine control systems. Oxidation-only two-way converters are still used on lean-burn engines[citation needed] to oxidize particulate matter and hydrocarbon emissions (including diesel engines, which typically use lean combustion), as three-way-converters require fuel-rich or stoichiometric combustion to successfully reduce NOx.
Although catalytic converters are most commonly applied to exhaust systems in automobiles, they are also used on electrical generators, forklifts, mining equipment, trucks, buses, locomotives, motorcycles, and on ships. They are even used on some wood stoves to control emissions. This is usually in response to government regulation, either through environmental regulation or through health and safety regulations.
Catalytic converter prototypes were first designed in France at the end of the 19th century, when only a few thousand "oil cars" were on the roads; these prototypes had inert clay-based materials coated with platinum, rhodium, and palladium and sealed into a double metallic cylinder. A few decades later, a catalytic converter was patented by Eugene Houdry, a French mechanical engineer. Houdry was an expert in catalytic oil refining, having invented the catalytic cracking process that all modern refining is based on today. Houdry moved to the United States in 1930 to live near the refineries in Philadelphia and develop his catalytic refining process.
When the results of early studies of smog in Los Angeles were published, Houdry became concerned about the role of smokestack exhaust and automobile exhaust in air pollution and founded a company called Oxy-Catalyst. Houdry first developed catalytic converters for smokestacks, and later developed catalytic converters for warehouse forklifts running on unleaded gasoline. In the mid-1950s, he began research to develop catalytic converters for gasoline engines used on cars and was awarded United States Patent 2,742,437 for his work.
Catalytic converters were further developed by a series of engineers including Carl D. Keith, John J. Mooney, Antonio Eleazar, and Phillip Messina at Engelhard Corporation, creating the first production catalytic converter in 1973.
The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile market. To comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new exhaust emissions regulations, most gasoline-powered vehicles manufactured from 1975 onwards are equipped with catalytic converters. Early catalytic converters were "two-way", combining oxygen with carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC, chemical compounds in fuel of the form CmHn) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). These stringent emission control regulations also resulted in the removal of the antiknock agent tetraethyl lead from automotive gasoline, to reduce lead in the air. Lead and its compounds are catalyst poisons and foul catalytic converters by coating the catalyst's surface. Requiring the removal of lead allowed the use of catalytic converters to meet the other emission standards in the regulations.
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Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device which converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually used with internal combustion engines fueled by gasoline (petrol) or diesel, including lean-burn engines, and sometimes on kerosene heaters and stoves.
The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile market. To comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency's stricter regulation of exhaust emissions, most gasoline-powered vehicles starting with the 1975 model year are equipped with catalytic converters. These "two-way" oxidation converters combine oxygen with carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
"Three-way" converters, which also reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx), were first commercialized by Volvo on the California-specification 1977 240 cars. When U.S. federal emission control regulations began requiring tight control of NOx for the 1981 model year, most all automakers met the tighter standards with three-way catalytic converters and associated engine control systems. Oxidation-only two-way converters are still used on lean-burn engines[citation needed] to oxidize particulate matter and hydrocarbon emissions (including diesel engines, which typically use lean combustion), as three-way-converters require fuel-rich or stoichiometric combustion to successfully reduce NOx.
Although catalytic converters are most commonly applied to exhaust systems in automobiles, they are also used on electrical generators, forklifts, mining equipment, trucks, buses, locomotives, motorcycles, and on ships. They are even used on some wood stoves to control emissions. This is usually in response to government regulation, either through environmental regulation or through health and safety regulations.
Catalytic converter prototypes were first designed in France at the end of the 19th century, when only a few thousand "oil cars" were on the roads; these prototypes had inert clay-based materials coated with platinum, rhodium, and palladium and sealed into a double metallic cylinder. A few decades later, a catalytic converter was patented by Eugene Houdry, a French mechanical engineer. Houdry was an expert in catalytic oil refining, having invented the catalytic cracking process that all modern refining is based on today. Houdry moved to the United States in 1930 to live near the refineries in Philadelphia and develop his catalytic refining process.
When the results of early studies of smog in Los Angeles were published, Houdry became concerned about the role of smokestack exhaust and automobile exhaust in air pollution and founded a company called Oxy-Catalyst. Houdry first developed catalytic converters for smokestacks, and later developed catalytic converters for warehouse forklifts running on unleaded gasoline. In the mid-1950s, he began research to develop catalytic converters for gasoline engines used on cars and was awarded United States Patent 2,742,437 for his work.
Catalytic converters were further developed by a series of engineers including Carl D. Keith, John J. Mooney, Antonio Eleazar, and Phillip Messina at Engelhard Corporation, creating the first production catalytic converter in 1973.
The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile market. To comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new exhaust emissions regulations, most gasoline-powered vehicles manufactured from 1975 onwards are equipped with catalytic converters. Early catalytic converters were "two-way", combining oxygen with carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC, chemical compounds in fuel of the form CmHn) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). These stringent emission control regulations also resulted in the removal of the antiknock agent tetraethyl lead from automotive gasoline, to reduce lead in the air. Lead and its compounds are catalyst poisons and foul catalytic converters by coating the catalyst's surface. Requiring the removal of lead allowed the use of catalytic converters to meet the other emission standards in the regulations.
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