Good new diesel people!

[Baron Greenback]

Researchers have designed a metal oxide catalyst for removing pollutants from diesel engine exhaust that could potentially replace costly platinum catalysts and pollution is up to 45 percent lower than with platinum catalysts. Tad too early to come to the market place!

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-08-diesel-exhaust-platin...

[Simpo Two]

Doesn't work with petrol then?

[lexusboy]

I would imagine not as the combustion gases of petrol and diesel are completely different so the catalysts would react with diesel smoke rather than petrol

[davepoth]

lexusboy said:

I would imagine not as the combustion gases of petrol and diesel are completely different so the catalysts would react with diesel smoke rather than petrol

How do you work that out? They're made out of the same thing - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and a bit of sulphur.

I imagine that the concentration on diesel is down to the scientific study using diesel engines, and the much tighter regulation on diesel emissions in the USA.

Edited by davepoth on Tuesday 21st August 02:13

[PugwasHDJ80]

davepoth said:

lexusboy said:

I would imagine not as the combustion gases of petrol and diesel are completely different so the catalysts would react with diesel smoke rather than petrol

How do you work that out? They're made out of the same thing - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and a bit of sulphur.

I imagine that the concentration on diesel is down to the scientific study using diesel engines, and the much tighter regulation on diesel emissions in the USA.

Edited by davepoth on Tuesday 21st August 02:13

to be fair plastics and high explosives are all made from the same thing!

[davepoth]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

to be fair plastics and high explosives are all made from the same thing!

And people. But they all burn the same...

[Flibble]

davepoth said:

How do you work that out? They're made out of the same thing - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and a bit of sulphur.

I imagine that the concentration on diesel is down to the scientific study using diesel engines, and the much tighter regulation on diesel emissions in the USA.

It's to do with the way you burn them. Diesel is detonated in a fuel-lean environment, whereas petrol is burned at stoichiometric ratio. This means that diesel engines tend to produce a lot of NOx due to reactions between oxygen molecules and nitrogen molecules in the air. In a petrol engine all the oxygen is consumed by being burned with the petrol no there is no oxygen to react with the nitrogen and hence very little NOx.

This new catalyst is for reducing NOx emissions and so it's more useful for a diesel engine than a petrol engine.

[davepoth]

Flibble said:

It's to do with the way you burn them. Diesel is detonated in a fuel-lean environment, whereas petrol is burned at stoichiometric ratio. This means that diesel engines tend to produce a lot of NOx due to reactions between oxygen molecules and nitrogen molecules in the air. In a petrol engine all the oxygen is consumed by being burned with the petrol no there is no oxygen to react with the nitrogen and hence very little NOx.

This new catalyst is for reducing NOx emissions and so it's more useful for a diesel engine than a petrol engine.

About triple, if the Euro emission standards are anything to go by.

http://www.nextgreencar.com/caremissions.php

Obviously more useful for diesels, but not useless for petrols.