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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Automobiles are facing increasingly strict emissions regulations in an effort to reduce the amount of harmful air pollutants that are released into the environment. In Japan, for example, the current emissions standards for NOx and nonmethane hydrocarbons are less than 0.05 g/km. Currently, one method of reducing harmful emissions is with a high-performance, three-way catalytic (TWC) converter. This device reduces harmful nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen, oxidizes carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, and oxidizes unburnt hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and water. However, it requires the use of the rare-earth element Cerium (Ce), which is increasing in price and can suffer from supply problems. Professor Masato Machida from Kumamoto University, Japan has been researching ways to reduce the amount of Ce used in catalytic converters and even find an alternative material to replace it.
In their most recent attempt to reduce the amount of Ce in their experimental catalyst, Professor Machida and collaborators from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST) grafted cerium oxide to MnFeOy (CeO2/MnFeOy), and compared their new catalyst with two reference catalysts, CeO2/Fe2O3 and CeO2/Mn2O3. Upon assessing the oxygen-release profiles through carbon monoxide temperature-programmed reduction (CO-TPR), the researchers found that even though CeO2/Mn2O3 exhibited oxygen release rates greater than CeO2/MnFeOy between ~350 to ~550 degrees Celsius, the experimental catalyst started releasing at the lowest possible temperature. This provided evidence that oxygen release was improved by both combining Fe2O3 and Mn2O3, and grafting CeO2 to the surface.
[...] The researchers then put their new catalyst to the test in conditions that more closely resembled the real world. Using the Japanese standard JC08 (hot start) mode for gasoline engines, they developed two (reference and experimental) real-sized honeycomb catalysts and compared their performance using a four cylinder, 1339 cc, gasoline engine on a chassis dynamometer. The experimental catalyst was a 1:2 wt ratio of 1 wt% Rh-loaded CeO2/MnFeOy and 2.5 wt% Pd/A2O3, and the reference catalyst was a mixture of 1 wt% Rh/CeO2 and Pd/A2O3. The experimental catalyst used 30% less CeO2 than the reference thereby reducing the need for the rare earth metal.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday June 05 2017, @03:19PM (1 child)
This all makes me yearn for the simplicity of an electric car.
CCaaS Catalytic Converter as a Service provided by my local electric company.
Of course I participate in the local power companies greenwashing plan where every kilowatt hour I purchase from them, they pinkie swear to buy a kilowatt hour from a local solar farm or wind farm, so technically the only hydrocarbons my electrical power emits are oil dripping out of the wind turbine. This used to be like a 75% surcharge and now its something comic like 15% eventually signing up for solar would be cheaper than coal and they'll shut down the greenwashing project. Much like they don't offer 1 cent/kwh guranteed-nuclear-only power because that would save me money not make them greenwashing profits.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @04:29PM
Don't lie. You just admitted your preferred form of alternative energy is white power. [soylentnews.org]