CATALYTIC CONVERTER

WELMER C. TADIOSA
• History of the catalytic converter
• 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. When the results of early
studies of smog in Los Angeles were published, 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. Then he developed
catalytic converters for warehouse fork lifts that used low
grade non-leaded gasoline. Then in the mid 1950s he began
research to develop catalytic converters for gasoline engines
used on cars. He was awarded United States Patent 2742437
for his work.
• 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.
• What is catalytic converter
• Catalytic converters are one of the major components found
in modern exhaust systems. They are installed inline with the
exhaust manifold, muffler, and connecting pipes, and perform
an important function in relation to emission controls. These
components function by catalyzing various chemical reactions
in order to convert some of the more harmful or hazardous
byproducts of internal combustion into more innocuous
compounds. The three primary compounds that are dealt
with by catalytic converters are CO (carbon monoxide), UHCs
(unburned hydrocarbons), and NOx (nitrogen monoxide and
nitrogen dioxide).
• A catalytic converter is a large metal box, bolted
to the underside of your car, that has two pipes
coming out of it. One of them (the converter's
"input") is connected to the engine and brings in
hot, polluted fumes from the engine's cylinders
(where the fuel burns and produces power). The
second pipe (the converter's "output") is
connected to the tailpipe (exhaust). As the gases
from the engine fumes blow over the catalyst,
chemical reactions take place on its surface,
breaking apart the pollutant gases and converting
them into other gases that are safe enough to
blow harmlessly out into the air.
• in automobiles, a component of emission
control systems used to reduce the discharge
of noxious and polluting gases from the
internal-combustion engine. The catalytic
converter consists of an insulated chamber
containing a honeycomb structure or pellets
coated withcatalyst through which the
exhaust gases are passed. Hydrocarbons and
carbon monoxide in the exhaust are oxidized
to water vapour and carbon dioxide, and
nitrogen oxides are reduced tonitrogen and
oxygen.
Theory
• To solve those problems, cities, states and the
federal government create clean-air laws that
restrict the amount of pollution that cars can
produce. Over the years, automakers have made
many refinements to car engines and fuel
systems to keep up with these laws. One of these
changes came about in 1975 with an interesting
device called a catalytic converter. The job of the
catalytic converter is to convert harmful
pollutants into less harmful emissions before they
ever leave the car’s exhaust system.
• A catalyst is simply a chemical that makes a chemical
reaction go faster without itself changing in the process.
It's a bit like an athletics coach who stands by the side of
the track and shouts at the runners to go faster. The
coach doesn't run anywhere; he just stands there, waves
his arms about, and makes the runners speed up. In a
catalytic converter, the catalyst's job is to speed up the
removal of pollution. The catalyst is made
from platinumor a similar, platinum-like metal such as
palladium or rhodium.
• One very important thing to note about catalytic
converters is that they require you to use unleaded fuel,
because the lead in conventional fuel "poisons" the
catalyst and prevents it from taking up the pollutants in
exhaust gases.
• Parts of CatCon
• Types of catalytic converter
• Two-way
• A two-way (or “oxidation”) catalytic converter
has two simultaneous tasks:
• Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon
dioxide: 2CO + O2 → 2CO2
• Oxidation of hydrocarbons (unburnt and
partially burnt fuel) to carbon dioxide and
water: H2O (a combustion reaction)
• This type of catalytic converter is widely used
on diesel engines to reduce hydrocarbon and
carbon monoxide emissions. They were also
used on gasoline engines in American- and
Canadian-market automobiles until 1981.
Because of their inability to control oxides of
nitrogen, they were superseded by three-way
converters.
• Three-way
• Since 1981, “three-way” (oxidation-reduction) catalytic
converters have been used in vehicle emission control
systems in the United States and Canada; many other
countries have also adopted stringent vehicle emission
regulations that in effect require three-way converters on
gasoline-powered vehicles. The reduction and oxidation
catalysts are typically contained in a common housing,
however in some instances they may be housed separately.
A three-way catalytic converter has three simultaneous
tasks:
• Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen: 2NOx
→ xO2 + N2
• Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide: 2CO + O2
→ 2CO2
• Oxidation of unburnt hydrocarbons (HC) to carbon dioxide
and water:H2O.
• The three harmful compounds are:

• Hydrocarbons (in the form of unburned

gasoline)
• Carbon monoxide (formed by the combustion
of gasoline)
• Nitrogen oxides (created when the heat in
the engine forces nitrogen in the air to
combine with oxygen)