Automobile emission catalysts catalyst combinations

A catalytic oxidation system may cost 150 per car, but the catalyst cost is estimated to be 30, less than 1% of the cost of an automobile (2). In a few years, the gross sale of automotive catalysts in dollars may exceed the combined sale of catalysts to the chemical and petroleum industries (3). On the other hand, if the emission laws are relaxed or if the automotive engineers succeed in developing a more economical and reliable non-catalytic solution to emission control, automotive catalysis may turn out to be a short boom. Automotive catalysis is still in its infancy, with tremendous potential for improvement. The innovations of catalytic scientists and engineers in the future will determine whether catalysis is the long term solution to automotive emissions. 

Another important application of heterogeneous catalysts is in automobile catalytic converters. Despite much work on engine design and fuel composition, automotive exhaust emissions contain air pollutants such as unburned hydrocarbons (CxHy), carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide. Carbon monoxide results from incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, and nitric oxide is produced when atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen combine at the high temperatures present in an... 

For the control of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and nitrogen oxide emissions from automobiles, oval-shaped extruded cordierite or metal monolith catalysts are wrapped in ceramic wool and placed inside a stainless steel casing (Fig. 19-18a). The catalytic metals are Pt-Rh or Pd-Rh, or combinations. Cell sizes typically ranges between 400 and 600 cells per square inch. The catalysts achieve over 90 percent reduction in all three pollutants. 

Further progress is expected from new developments and combinations of processes. Thus, it would be possible to make the disposal of the gaseous (and highly pure) waste gas streams (residual propane content of the propylene feed) cost-effective and a source of electric power by connection to novel, compact, membrane fuel cells. Potential synergisms would also occur in the operating temperature of the cells (medium-temperature cells at 120 °C using the residual exothermic heat of reaction from the oxo reaction), the membrane costs by means of combined developments (e.g., for membrane separations of the catalysts [22]), and also in the development of the zero-emission automobile by the automotive industry. The combination of hydroformylation with fuel cells would further reduce the E-factor - thus approaching a zero-emission chemistry. ... 

The chemical and thermal characteristics of PGE make them highly useful as catalysts in a wide variety of industrial, chemical, electrical and pharmaceutical processes (Johnson Matthey 2007). Their use as catalysts in automotive catalytic converters to reduce noxious emissions from the burning of fossil fuels has undoubtedly been one of the most far-reaching and important applications. Automobiles have been equipped with catalytic converters since 1975 and 1986 in the US and Europe, respectively. Initially, Pt and Pd were used to reduce hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. Since the early 1990s, Rh has also been used in various combinations and ratios with Pt and Pd in three-way catalytic converters to reduce emissions. PGE appear to be emitted together with alumina particles from the washcoat as a result of various chemical, physical and... 

The largest application of Rh as a catalyst is in the automobile catalytic converter because of its unique activity for reduction of NOx and the oxidation of CO and hydrocarbons (7). The scarcity and high price of Rh and increasingly stringent standards for NOx emissions have prompted extensive studies to further improve the performance and to develop substitutes for Rh-based catalysts. Improvement of Rh performance for NO and CO reaction lies in our understanding of the reactivity of adsorbate, the nature of active sites, and the reaction pathway. Several previous studies have suggested that the reaction pathway for CO2 formation involves the reaction of adsorbed CO with adsorbed O produced from the dissociation of NO adsorbed N atoms from NO dissociation combine to form N2 (7-4). 

One important use of catalysts is in catalytic converters on automobiles, which reduce the emission of exhaust gas pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO., where x is variable), and unburned hydrocarbons. (See the chapter-opening diagrams and photograph for this chapter.) Air is introduced into the exhaust emissions from the automobile engine this mixture of gases then passes over the catalyst, which on its surface adsorbs molecules of CO, NO , and O2. The NO dissociates into N and O atoms, whereas the O2 dissociates into its atomic species. Pairs of nitrogen atoms combine to form N2 molecules, and carbon monoxide is oxidized to form... 

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