Improved low-temperature performance of catalytic converters
Thursday, January 30, 2014 - 09:00
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —Toxic vehicle emissions, such as carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons, are chemically converted to benign compounds, like carbon dioxide (CO2) and water, by catalytic converters. Although catalytic converters are valuable technology, they are also expensive. To reduce costs, experiments are being done to lessen the amount of platinum (Pt) and substitute palladium (Pd) in converters. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's Advanced Photon Source (APS) played a role in research that indicates a Pd/lanthanum (La)-alumina catalyst may result in a less-expensive catalytic converter with improved low-temperature carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation reactivity.