Catalytic Filter

CATALYTIC FILTER

 A catalytic converter is an emissions control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas to less toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction (an oxidation and a reduction reaction). Catalytic converters are used with internal combustion engines fueled by either petrol (gasoline) or diesel—including lean-burn engines as well as kerosene heaters and stoves.The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile market. To comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stricter regulation of exhaust emissions, most gasoline-powered vehicles starting with the 1975 model year must be equipped with catalytic converters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter

• HISTORY

The catalytic converter was invented by Eugene Houdry, a French mechanical engineer and expert in catalytic oil refining who lived in the U.S. around 1950. Houdry became concerned about the role of smoke stack exhaust and automobile exhaust in air pollution and founded a company, Oxy-Catalyst. Houdry first developed catalytic converters for smoke stacks called cats for short.Widespread adoption of catalytic converters didn’t occur until more stringent emission control regulations forced the removal of the anti-knock agent, tetraethyllead, from most gasoline, because lead was a ‘catalyst poison’ and would inactivate the converter by forming a coating on the catalyst’s surface, effectively disabling it.

Catalytic converters were further developed by a series of engineers including John J. Mooney and Carl D. Keith at the Engelhard Corporation, creating the first production catalytic converter in 1973. Dr. William C.Pfefferle developed a catalytic combustion for gas turbines in the early 1970's, allowing combustion without significant formation of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.

https://www.catalyticconverters.com/history/

• INVENTOR/discoverer

Engineer Eugene Houdry

French chemical engineer Eugene Houdry (1892–1962) patented what seems to have been the very first catalytic converter in the United States, filing the invention on May 5, 1950 and receiving his (US Patent 2,674,521: Catalytic converter for exhaust gases) four years later on April 6, 1954.

• COMPOSITION

Platinum is the catalyst in a catalytic converter, but there are other metals as well, including palladium, rhodium, copper, nickel, cerium, iron, and manganese. We recycle, refine and pay you for the platinum, palladium, and rhodium we reclaim from your catalytic converters.

• GOOD / BAD EFFECTS

• Although catalytic converters are effective at removing hydrocarbons and other harmful emissions, they do not reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced when fossil fuels are burnt.

• Carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuels is one of the greenhouse gases indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be a “most likely” cause of global warming.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated automobile emissions are a significant and growing cause of global warming, because of their release of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas over three hundred times more potent than carbon dioxide. The EPA states that motor vehicles contribute approximately 8.2% of anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions in 2008, from a high of 17.77% in 1998.

• Nitrous oxide makes up 7.2% of greenhouse gases.

• An engine equipped with a three-way catalyst must run at the stoichiometric point, which means more fuel is consumed than in a lean-burn engine. This, in turn, means relatively more CO2 emissions from the vehicle. Nevertheless, catalyst-equipped engines produce cleaner exhaust than lean-burn engines.

• Catalytic converter production requires palladium or platinum; part of the world supply of these precious metals is produced near Norilsk, Russia, where the industry (among others) has caused Norilsk to be added to Time magazine’s list of most-polluted places.

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