Mazda has announced that is has developed a new catalyst technology for automobile based catalytic converters which reduces the usage of precious metals such as platinum, rhodium, palladium and even gold by 70%. This is done via a single nanocatalyst technology and the Japanese auto maker mentioned that this new technology will first find its way into the new Mazda 3 which makes its worldwide showroom debut this year.
A catalytic converter uses a base material such as ceramic coated with the above mentioned precious metals. When exhaust gas is released from the combustion chambers, it will be channeled through a catalytic converter which help purify the gas via chemical reaction with the materials in the converter.
The problem with conventional catalytic converters is that the particles in precious metals tend to turn into larger clumps when in contact with hot exhaust gases, which reduces effective surface area. To counteract this, auto companies increase usage of precious metals.
With the new single nanocatalyst technology, precious metal particles are ‘controlled’ and are fixed in position, hence disabling these particles from turning into larger clumps, which then increases the effectiveness of the catalytic converter in purifying exhaust gases. Particles in this technology are reduced in size to less than 5 nanometers (nm), compared to particles sizes of more than 10 nm in conventional catalytic converters. Hence, usage of precious metals can be reduced to just 0.15 g/L compared to 0.55 g/L, which is by 70%.
According to Mazda, the new Mazda 3 with the single nanocatalyst technology conforms rules which enables the car to be classified as a Super Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle (SU-LEV) in Japan by achieving exhaust emissions that are at least 75% cleaner than regulations set in 2005. The technology will be progressively introduced to other Mazda models.
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