The Catalytic converter
The catalytic converter is a simple yet fascinating invention that uses precious metals such as platinum palladium, and rhodium as catalyst to cause reduction and oxidation reactions that can reduce dangerous gasses produced by combustion engines by over 95% converting them into less harmful gasses. Even though catalytic converters are quite simple they are still extremely expensive, this is due to the precious metals that are used as catalysts.
The reactions that take place to convert the harmful gasses to un-harmful gasses could not occur without the right amount of energy, for a reaction to take place it has to reach the correct activation energy. Activation energy is the minimum amount of energy that the reacting species must have in order to undergo the specified reaction. The catalytic converter helps the thermodynamic process by decreasing the activation energy needed for the reaction to take place. The catalyst will not form a product but will change the speed of the reaction.
The stainless steel housing of the catalytic converter contains two ceramic blocks, these blocks are honeycombed with hundreds of small passages. This honeycomb structure increases the surface area of the catalytic converter, which allows more reactions to be simultaneously reacting. The sides of these passages are coated with platinum, rhodium, and palladium. These are very expensive metals, but when used properly in a catalytic converter they are more than worth the cost. These metals are capable of causing toxic gasses to react and then recombine into harmless gasses, all this can be done without the precious metals altering themselves or rusting. The point of the honeycomb structure used in these ceramic plates is...
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...ese dangerously harmful gasses would be released into our atmosphere by all combustion engines. Although the catalytic converter when operating at its optimal temperature can break down over 95% percent of the harmful gasses produced by the engine it does not do a well at all when not at high temperatures. It takes about five miles of driving for most vehicles to reach a temperature at which the reactions will reach near completion, before this temperature the catalytic converter does practically nothing to convert these harmful gases. Some catalytic converters now have coils running from the engine to the catalytic converter to heat the catalytic converter to its optimal temperature soon after the engine has started to produce harmful gasses. With this improvement the catalytic converter can effectively reduce almost all of the carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide.
This process uses gases from the industrial exhaust which is let out into the atmosphere, which in turn makes profits out of pollution (NAIR & (IN), 2012).
The activation energy is reduced so that there is a better chance of particles having enough energy to react. Reactants will need less. energy to react to. 2. What is the difference between a..
If a reactant is a solid, then breaking it up into smaller pieces (but keeping the mass the same) will increase its surface area. If there is a larger surface area the reacting particles will have more of an area to react with, therefore there will be more collisions. 4. A catalyst works by giving the reacting particles something to stick to where they can collide with each other, because they are all attracted to the catalyst there are going to be more collisions. A catalyst does not get used up in a reaction.
The concentrate is dried and sent into a reverberatory furnace. The minerals are partly oxidized and melted, resulting in isolated layers. The matte layer refers to the iron-copper sulfide mixture which sinks to the bottom. The slag, which refers to the remaining impurities, floats on top of the matte and the discarded. Sulfur dioxide gases are also collected and made into sulfuric acid for use in hydrometallurgical leaching. The matte is recovered and moved to the converter, a cylindrical vessel into which the copper is poured. Air, lime and silica are added to react with the metal oxide. The slag is removed and the Sulfur dioxide and converted into sulfuric acid, this forms blister copper which is 97-99% pure.
Ideally an engine takes in Air (Oxygen and Nitrogen) and fuel (hydrocarbons) and produces CO2, H2O, and the N2 just passes through. However under normal driving conditions an engine will encounter lean conditions when cruising on the highway (better mileage) and rich conditions when accelerating (better power). The lean condition results in oxide and harmful nitrogen production. Rich conditions result in carbon monoxide production. For this reason catalytic converters are used on an engine’s exhaust.
The tradeoffs of using gasoline for cars are large emission of carbon dioxide and required large amount of chemical t...
Full combustion should generate two products only: carbon dioxide and water vapour. Hypothesis Within a molecule there are bond energies that hold the atoms together. When the fuel combusts, a chemical reaction takes place, this breaks the bonds, this requires energy, and makes new bonds, this gives out energy. The energy differences between the two tell us how much energy was given out or taken in. We can show this in a graph.
Predictions may be made about the suitability of possible catalysts by assuming that the mechanism of catalysis consists of two stages, either of which can be first:
Reactions occur when the particles of reactants collide together continuously. If they collide with sufficient energy, then they will react. The minimum amount of kinetic energy required for particles at the time of collision is called the activation energy and this theory is known as the ?collision theory?.
[ IMAGE] 4. What is the difference between a.. Catalysts increase the number of collisions. A catalyst works by giving the reacting particles a surface to stick to where they can. bump into each other.
The catalytic process occurs at lower temperature anf offers higher selectivity but requires frequent regeneration of the catalyst. Then, the products are cooled and introduced into a pair of separators which separate the unreacted hydrogen. The unreacted hydrogen is compressed and recycle back to the feed and reactor. The products that leaving the separators are heated before introduced into a distillation column which the toluene is separated from the stream and recycle back to the...
In the mid-seventies basic steps were taken to reduce the pollution caused by cars, which of course at their heart is an internal combustion engine. The first and most obvious source of pollution from cars is the Exhaust pipe. Exhaust emissions contain carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. Also a small amount of solid matter, or particulates, is emitted in the form of lead from the tetraethyl lead used in fuel to increase its octane rating. It was found that these pollutants were having an adverse effect on the environment and in extreme cases were actually causing visible ‘smog.’ But exhaust emissions in pre-70’s cars were only accounting for 55% of automotive air pollutants. Another major source was emissions of hydrocarbons from the engine’s crankcase. They occurred because during combustion there is a small amount ...
Many hazardous pollutants escape from the internal combustion of the engine. Conventional gas powered vehicles use irreplaceable fossil fuels to run. When burned, these fossil fuels create numerous toxins like carbon dioxide (Larminie 246). Carbon dioxide is considered the main greenhouse gas that creates the foundation for global warming (hybridcars.com, pollutants). This harmful pollutant may not have a serious effect on people at first, but it does have consequential effects on the environment that in turn put people in danger (Nutramed.com). The major consequence caused by global warming is the rise in average temperature. This results in a domino...
When gasoline burns in the engine of a car, an equal amount of work and heat appears as the energy is released. The heat from the engine warms its surroundings, the car parts, the air, and the passenger area. The heat energy is converted into the electrical energy of the radio, chemical energy of the battery, and radiant energy of the lights. The change in the sum of all of the energies formed from the burnt gasoline is equal to the “.change in energy between the reactants and products.” Biological processes, like photosynthesis, also follow energy conservation.
can cause a lot of carbon dioxide to be released. Every time we burn fossil fuels, we release more