Catalytic converters are just some of the automotive parts that lessen those noxious emissions of vehicles. With the global warming worsening, scientists have been busy looking for some alternatives for the helpful auto parts.

For now, various studies and experiments are aimed at finding a fuel, which can reduce the vehicles’ dependence on green house gas producing fossil fuels. Hydrogen is by far the readily available fuel anywhere.

“At this stage, we need a system that caters to the need of the fuel crisis and environmental degradation. These twin problems need to be solved as our country is dependent on engine,” said L M Das, professor at the Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi. Hydrogen gas, as a fuel, seems to fit the requirements perfectly.

At the moment, the only flaw in the plan seen that Hydrogen has a very low ignition energy. This will of course cause fire and will immediately spread to the engine’s exhaust. Aside from this flaw, Hydrogen also has plus factors like it does not have emissions like hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, or sulfur oxides. These noxious emissions, which are very harmful to the ozone, are being treated by the catalytic converters. Before any of these hazardous gases comes out into the air, the catalytic converter has already done the job of filtration.

“It can give close to zero emission vehicles, but produces oxides of nitrogen, which can be reduced with the use of a catalytic converter,” said Das.

The main advantage of this study lies in the fact that sources of Hydrogen are plentiful and Hydrogen are considered safer than petrol.

“In case of a petrol spill there is a chance that it will ignite and burn the car. Hydrogen easily disseminates in air. So even if it catches fire, it will not affect the car and the people inside it,” said Das.

For now, the study on this is still going on, thus catalytic converters are still the best choice for vehicles. These helpful auto parts are after all have been proven to be effective in filtering the vehicle’s harmful exhaust.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 5:31 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.