Overview of Precious Metal Content Analysis Methods in Automotive Catalytic Converter

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, people’s concern of pollution issues arising. Vehicles, as the most important means of transportation, its exhaust emission has received considerable attention. The catalytic converter is able to purify harmful substances in exhaust gas. The absolute content of precious metals in the catalytic converter dominates the exhaust gas purification effect. Accurate detection of precious metal content is of great significance for controlling the cost of catalysts, ensuring catalytic performance and recovering precious metals from spent catalysts. We herein summarized several instruments for precious metals content exploration, such as X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS), inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer (ICP) and spectrophotometer. In this thesis, the feasibility of using various devices for characterizing precious metal content in catalytic converters is analyzed and their strengths or weaknesses are elaborated.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF EFFECTS OF WALL THICKNESS AND CELL DENSITY ON THE THREE-WAY CATALYTIC CONVERTER PERFORMANCE

The transient symmetric mathematical model is established, and the effects of the wall thickness and cell density on the performance of a three-way catalytic converter are studied using numerical modeling. The conclusions show that the light-off time and the pressure drop through a converter are decreased, and the conversion efficiency during the warm-up period keeps almost invariant with reduction of the wall thickness of substrates, and that the pressure drop through a converter and a conversion efficiency during the warm-up state increases, and the light-off time almost keeps invariant when increasing cell density of substrates. Therefore, future catalytic converters should develop in the direction of thin wall thickness and high cell density substrates simultaneously.

Four-channel catalytic micro-reactor based on alumina hollow fiber membrane for efficient catalytic oxidation of CO

The traditional automotive catalytic converter using commercial ceramic honeycomb carriers has many problems such as high back pressure,low engine efficiency,and high usage of precious metals.This study proposes a four-channel catalytic micro-reactor based on alumina hollow fiber membrane,which uses phase inversion method for structural molding and regulation.Due to the advantages of its carrier,it can achieve lower ignition temperature under low noble metal loading.With Pd/CeO_(2) at a loading rate of 2.3%(mass),the result showed that the reaction ignition temperature is even less than 160℃,which is more than 90℃ lower than the data of commercial ceramic substrates under similar catalyst loading and airspeed conditions.The technology in turn significantly reduces the energy consumption of the reaction.And stability tests were conducted under constant conditions for 1000 h,which proved that this catalytic converter has high catalytic efficiency and stability,providing prospects for the design of innovative catalytic converters in the future.

Novel Electrically Stimulated Catalytic Converter Prototype for Replacement of Conventional Auto Exhaust Emission Converters

High voltage electrostatics and corona discharge are utilized for various applications in pollution and environmental control. The traditional applications have many flaws due to improper construction of electrode design and assembly that cause system failure, in particular when electrically stimulated devices are exposed to high humidity. A new innovative-patented design by Hamade, electrically stimulated catalytic converter(ESCC),eliminates such flaws and shows the wide practical applications of the new design. The new design utilized previous patented designs and work of the same inventor but retrofitted for catalytic auto exhaust emission control. The current and previous patents include: employing electrically stimulated filtration(ESF) to replace high efficiency particulate air(HEPA) filters, treatment of biological and infectious diseases, electret fabrication, and, most notably, the invention of a new electrically stimulated catalytic converter(ESCC). The electrically stimulated catalytic converter invention includes an exhaust conduit fed from the engine exhaust port with a housed corona charger apparatus. The opposite end is opened to the atmosphere outside of the vehicle or connected to a reduced-size catalytic converter. The corona charger is intrusively or non-intrusively associated with a main flow path defined by the exhaust conduit. The corona charger includes at least one electrode, which may be recessed away from, the main flow path. A plurality of corona chargers may be used in various combinations, optimally a two dimensional grid. The electrically stimulated catalytic converter is adapted to treat and eliminate auto exhaust pollution emission to air.

Vapour Treatment Method Against Other Pyro-and Hydrometallurgical Processes Applied to Recover Platinum From Used Auto Catalytic Converters

Today more and more cars are produced every year. All of them have to be equipped with catalytic converters, the main role of which is to obtain substances harmless to the environment instead of exhausted gases. Catalytic converters contain platinum group metals （PGM） especially platinum, palladium and rhodium. The price of these metals and their increasing demand are the reasons why today it is necessary to recycle used auto catalytic converters. There are many available methods of recovering PGM metals from them, especially platinum. These methods used mainly hydrometallurgical processes; however pyrometallurgical ones become more and more popular. The article presents results of the research mainly concerning pyrometallurgical processes. Two groups of research were carried out. In the first one different metals such as lead, magnesium and copper were used as a metal collector. During the tests, platinum went to those metals forming an alloy. In other research metal vapours were blown through catalytic converter carrier （grinded or whole）. In the tests metals such as calcium, magnesium, cadmium and zinc were applied. As a result white or grey powder （metal plus platinum） was obtained. The tables present results of the research. Processing parameters and conclusions are also shown. To compare efficiency of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods catalytic converter carrier and samples of copper with platinum obtained from pyrometallurgical method were solved in aqua regia, mixture of aqua regia and fluoric acid.

Auto catalytic converters growing in China

The air pollution caused by au-to emission becomes more and moreserious in China, which arouses Chinese Government to attach great attention to controlling auto tail gas pollution as a very important task. In Beijing, the municipal govern-ment has taken the lead in imple-menting the emission standard e-quivalent to European No. Ⅰ stan-

Combined Effect of a Catalytic Reduction Device with Waste Frying Oil-Based Biodiesel on NOx Emissions of Diesel Engines

Internal combustion engines with application in automobiles and other relevant industries constitute significant environmental pollution via the release of toxic exhaust gasses like carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM), and nitrogen oxide (NOx). Engine researchers and manufacturers are challenged to develop external and internal measures to ensure environmentally friendly solutions to accommodate and conform to the growing list of emission standards. Therefore, this work presents an experimental investigation of the NOx emission profile of a diesel engine that is fuelled and fitted with waste frying oil-based biodiesel and catalytic converter. Using a single-cylinder, four-stroke air-cooled CI engine at a constant speed of 1900 rpm and different loadings of 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%;fitted with a catalytic converter at the exhaust outlet of the engine and linked to a dynamometer and a gas analyser, an experiment was conducted at biodiesel/diesel volume blends of B0 (0/10), B5 (5/95), B20 (20/80), B30 (30/70), B70 (70/30), B100 (100/0);and 30% concentration (v/v), 0.5 litre/hr flow rate of aqueous urea from the catalytic converter. The results show an increasing NOx emission as the biodiesel component increased in the blend. The catalytic converter showed a downward NOx reduction with a significant 68% reduction in efficiency at high exhaust gas temperatures. It is concluded that the combined utilisation of waste frying oil-based biodiesel and the catalytic converter yields substantial NOx emission reduction.

Effects of different mixing ratios on emissions from passenger cars fueled with methanol/gasoline blends

Regulated and unregulated emissions from four passenger cars fueled with methanol/gasoline blends at different mixing ratios （M15,M20,M30,M50,M85 and M100） were tested over the New European Driving Cycle （NEDC）.Volatile organic compounds （VOCs） were sampled by Tenax TA and analyzed by thermal desorption-gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer （TD-GC/MS）.Carbonyls were trapped on dinitrophenylhydrazine （DNPH） cartridges and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC）.The results showed that total emissions of VOCs and BTEX （benzene,toluene,ethylbenzene,p,m,o-xylene） from all vehicles fueled with methanol/gasoline blends were lower than those from vehicles fueled with only gasoline.Compared to the baseline,the use of M85 decreased BTEX emissions by 97.4%,while the use of M15 decreased it by 19.7%.At low-to-middle mixing ratios （M15,M20,M30 and M50）,formaldehyde emissions showed a slight increase while those of high mixing ratios （M85 and M100） were three times compared with the baseline gasoline only.When the vehicles were retrofitted with new three-way catalytic converters （TWC）,emissions of carbon monoxide （CO）,total hydrocarbon （THC）,and nitrogen oxides （NOx） were decreased by 24%–50%,10%–35%,and 24%–58% respectively,compared with the cars using the original equipment manufacture （OEM） TWC.Using the new TWC,emissions of formaldehyde and BTEX were decreased,while those of other carbonyl increased.It is necessary that vehicles fueled with methanol/gasoline blends be retrofitted with a new TWC.In addition,the specific reactivity of emissions of vehicles fueled with M15 and retrofitted with the new TWC was reduced from 4.51 to 4.08 compared to the baseline vehicle.This indicates that the use of methanol/gasoline blend at a low mixing ratio may have lower effect on environment than gasoline.

Research on ammonia emissions characteristics from light-duty gasoline vehicles

In this study,ammonia emissions characteristics of typical light-duty gasoline vehicles were obtained through laboratory vehicle bench test and combined with New European Driving Cycle(NEDC)condition and Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Cycle(WLTC)condition.The influence of ambient temperature on ammonia emissions is mainly concentrated in the cold start stage.The influence of ambient temperature on ammonia emission is shown that the ammonia emissions of light-duty gasoline vehicles under ambient temperature conditions(14 and 23℃)are lower than those under low ambient temperature conditions(-7℃)and high ambient temperature conditions(35 and 40℃).The influence of TWC on ammonia emission is shown that ammonia is a by-product of the catalytic reduction reaction of conventional gas pollutants in the exhaust gas in the TWC.Under NEDC operating conditions and WLTC operating conditions,ammonia emissions after the catalyst are 45 times and 72 times that before the catalyst,respectively.In terms of ammonia emissions control strategy research,Pd/Rh combination can reduce NH3 formation more effectively than catalyst with a single Pd formula.Precise control of the engine’s air-fuel ratio and combination with the optimized matched precious metal ratio TWC can effectively reduce ammonia emissions.

Novel Application of High Voltage Electrostatics Corona Ions Discharge Related to Treatment, Sanitization and Disinfection of Biological Matter Such HIV-AIDS Infected Blood

A novel high-voltage electrostatics corona ions pre-charger apparatus and methods were invented earlier by Hamade related to treat various types of receptors such as but not limited to electret polymer, air filters, particulates, catalytic converters, bioaerosols, fluids, pollutants, virus, and bacteria. It is shown in this article that his work led to the construction of various prototype chargers, customized differently for each type of a receptor. In particular his recent development of biological matter corona charger(BMCC) prototype related to expose, treat, sanitize, and disinfect bioaerosols, virus, bacteria, and contaminated fluids and blood such as human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)-acquired immune deficiency syndrome(AIDS). It is shown in this paper that each previous investigated research contemplated ionized corona charger attendant to a charging process and the corona, imparts and provides enough treatment charges to receptors including the aforementioned receptors.Researchers often relied on adopting prior corona charger methods that do not necessarily and effectively solve the problems associated with them or utilize them for optimum treatment effect. The inventor exhaustively studied the characteristics of corona discharge, and has found that the greatest difficulty in corona discharge has to do with the maintenance of the corona, particularly when the receptor is being charged. This is due to variations in either the dielectric value between the corona electrode and a grounded base or flaws in the design as the receptor passes there between suppressing or hindering corona and its effectiveness. What is needed in-the-art is an apparatus and method to achieve maximum possible charge on a receptor, a charge order of magnitude greater than that used by other investigators. This often requires customizing each apparatus and method and does not just merely use one type of a charger to satisfy all applications. To satisfy this need, we build a low cost prototype BMCC that generates self-sustaining charge corona, eliminates many previous design flaws such as spark over, and make it ready for testing remotely or with apparatus.