The latest car from Mercedes Benz is definitely a good look at what will fill the streets in the future. With its hi-tech features that aim towards environment friendliness, this F-700 S-Class wonder is definitely one hell of a ride.

While it is tagged as a “research car”, production of this car will be in demand. After all, it does not only boast of the revolutionary Pre-Scan technology by Mercedes, but also its three-way catalytic converter. Why? Because this car can notably control its emissions. The DiesOtto, while a very powerful engine, it still needs an assurance that its carbons will not double during the combustion process. Hence, its Mercedes-Benz catalytic converter will take care of the rest.

The Pre-Scan technology is another innovative concept by Mercedes. It works through the Pre-Scan sensors that are strategically placed on the headlights so that they can be the “eyes” of the car. They will detect any lump, bump, or hump along the road, and they will pass this information to the car computer. The control unit then will come up with a plan in translating the hydraulics into a more accurate fluid flow for each wheel.

Of course, all these features are all the more enhanced by the exterior and interior beauty of the car. The F700 looks astonishing on the outside, with its unique contours and shiny polished coating. On the inside, it is a totally different story. The interiors are all floral-patterned and the leg room is unbelievable. This is definitely one car that is headed towards where the auto industry will go.

Catalytic converter theft is not the only thing that should be watched out for, motorists should also be careful about a hot catalytic converter for this may cause fire once the car is parked in a grassy area.

Just recently, it was reported that a body was found in a burning car in Shawnee County. Later on, it was confirmed that it was Olympic gold medalist Bob Owen.

Officials said that Owen died from heart attack, smoke inhalation and thermal burns. The State Fire Marshall’s office also said, “Owen’s car had been parked running in a field for an extensive period of time.” The reason why Owen was on the area remains unknown to officials.

Investigators later said that the fire may have been accidental and the possible cause may have been the vehicle’s hot catalytic converter coming into contact with the dry grass.

Owen was a former member of the United States hockey team that won a gold medal in the 1960 Winter Olympics. He also taught at Washburn University from 1970 until 1980.

An incident such as this only tells motorists to be extra careful and should be well-informed on the hazards that a catalytic converter brings.

This story is based on the report done by KWCH, a Kansas local news channel.

The side mirrors, car stereos, and even emblems are out of the car thieves’ vocabulary as the catalytic converters are gaining a lot of followers in this illegal job.

Across the United States, there have been numerous theft incidents that are geared toward catalytic converters. The question haunting vehicle owners, dealerships, and car shops is: what are the factors pushing these sneaky hands into these pro-environment exhaust parts? Aside from probable huge revenues when these catalytic converters are sold in bulk, these special auto parts carry semi-precious metals inside them. For starters, catalytic converters are designed and manufactured with platinum and copper, which are semi-precious metals. Take note that an ounce of platinum already cost about more than a thousand dollars. The copper, on the other hand, now costs almost $4, which is to date the ceiling high price of this metal per pound.

For these statistics, no wonder catalytic converters theft is very prevalent nowadays. These scoundrels are that knowledgeable of the non-environmental benefits of these auto parts. Automakers, however, cannot just remove this part in the exhaust systems of their vehicles because catalytic converters are that helpful in preserving of what’s left in the ozone. A catalytic converter is capable of treating noxious exhaust, like carbon monoxide, before it goes out into the air. As an indispensable exhaust part, several automobile manufacturers are now considering to use the non-valuable metal called palladium in catalytic converters. In this way, cat con thieves can no longer get big revenues from these parts and stop looting for good.

Following its recent groundbreaking move in catalytic converter technology, Mazda is now on its way of cutting the price of these environment-friendly automobile devices.

Mazda aims to save buyers from the ever-increasing prices of catalytic converters without affecting their efficiency, as well as the vehicles’ emission levels.

The high cost of metal used in most catalytic converters today makes these devices prone to being stolen. In a previous post, this blog reported that the Japanese automobile company has recently developed a Mazda catalytic converter with less metal content, to lessen the rising incidence of catalytic converter theft.

Whatcar.com reported on October 2 that Mazda is set to unveil its new and efficient catalytic converter, along with its latest concept sports car, at the Tokyo motor show at the end of this month. The Japanese auto maker, however, has not announced yet when the new catalytic converter will be equipped on production vehicles.

Source: Whatcar.com

http://www.whatcar.com/news-article.aspx?NA=228354
http://www.whatcar.com/news-article.aspx?NA=228347

The Opel Corsa, one of the popular car models in the world, celebrates this year its 25 years of success in the automotive industry. Over those years, Opel has demonstrated its commitment to green technology by leading innovations in catalytic converter technology, among other “green” features.

Just recently, Opel has announced the details of the much-anticipated addition to the Corsa family—the 2008 Opel Corsa GSi. Opel is one of General Motor’s automotive brands.

According to a September 27 press release from General Motors, the new Corsa model has “more substance than show.” True enough, the Corsa GSi has a 1.6-liter turbo engine that gives optimum performance coupled with fuel economy and environmental protection. Such a powerful engine gives the GSi its powerful performance.

The GSi is also designed to comply with the regulation set by the Euro 5 emissions standard, thanks to its three-way Opel catalytic converter. The main catalytic converter is supported by a preconverter mounted just at the back of the turbine outlet. This setup enhances the fast reaction of the exhaust emission control. The environment-friendliness of the Opel car is completed by the new hybrid technology engine control unit included in it.

In 1985, the Opel Corsa 1.3i is the first car of its kind to have a closed-loop, three-way catalytic converter included in the standard emission control. The three-way catalytic converter helps lessen three emissions: hydrocarbons or volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide.

In 1989, Opel was the first European auto maker to install catalytic converters as standard device in all of its vehicles. Opel was also the first to have a recycling chain for plastic. It also initiated the move to lessen the amount of dangerous substances such as asbestos and cadmium used during the manufacturing process of the vehicle.

1994 saw another innovation in catalytic converter technology—the catcon made of heavy-duty metal for effective control of vehicle emissions. This Opel catalytic converter was first used that year by the Opel Corsa B GSi 16 V model.

Source: General Motors press release

Particularly due to the metal content of catalytic converters that make them continuously prone to being stolen, the people from Mazda has searched for ways to reduce the metal content of their catalytic converters without sacrificing the said component’s functionality. Through making use of nanotechnology, Mazda has now developed a catalytic converter catalyst that has around 70 to 90 percent less platinum and palladium in its composition. Although these two metals help a lot in the purifying process, a considerable reduction of these metals, surprisingly, does not reduce the catalyst’s efficiency.

In the past, the costly metal particles are attached to the base material and will come together upon contact with heat that considerable reduces the surface of the particles are located and along with it, the catalyst’s efficiency. In order to prevent so much loss of the surface that is covered, auto manufacturers resulted to using more of these purifying materials on the catalytic converter. In so doing, when the area heats up—as it normally would upon continuous exposure to the vehicle’s emission—more area will be covered even if these metal particles clutter together.

With the catalytic converter catalyst that Mazda recently came up with, Mazda makes use of these metal particles with five nanometers in diameter that makes it possible for these metals to be securely embedded in the base material. This, in turn, enables these particles to stay put and not to cluster. With this breakthrough, Mazda is able to make use of less of the platinum and palladium metals that makes the catalytic converter the perfect target of thieves. With this new Mazda catalytic converter, the people in Mazda hopes that catalytic converter theft will considerably drop in the future.

There are still no announcements on the time Mazda will start mass producing their new catalyst. However, with the urgent need for it, it will only be a matter of time before Mazda releases their innovation.

Source: Motortrend.com

Japanese car maker Honda has a lot of great ideas and concept vehicles for their line up of environmental cars that it presented during the recently concluded Frankfurt Motor Show. Honda’s ‘Environment’ area focuses on the automaker’s revolutionary environmental technology employed by Honda which will be present on its Small Hybrid Sports Concept, its next generation clean diesel engine i-DTEC, Honda Civic Hybrid, and the fuel cell technology incorporated in its Honda FCX Concept.

Honda’s next generation clean diesel engine is continually being developed. It makes use of a world-first technology which aims to decrease diesel emissions so that they could be equal to the emission level of petrol engines.

The first goal of the development program of the diesel engine is to reach the Euro 5 requirements and Honda is proud to report that its 2.2-liter i-DTEC engine has already reached beyond the Euro 5 requirements. This new engine will soon be available as car enthusiast will be seeing it in the models of next year’s Accord range. Though the engine complies with the Euro 5 requirements, performance has not been compromised. It continues to have incredible power and torque, both of these were even increased together with the improvement of its fuel economy.

However, Honda does not want to stop with the achievement of the Euro 5 requirements as it aims to meet US Tier II/Bin 5 requirements as well. To attain this, its second phase of development for the said diesel engine includes an innovative catalytic converter. What’s innovative about this catalytic converter is that it makes use of the reductive reaction of ammonia to ‘detoxify’ the nitrogen oxide (NOx) by converting it into non-toxic nitrogen. But it does not make use of the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems which employs urea injection that stored in the storage tank; instead, it uses ammonia that’s produced directly within the catalytic converter.

A report from the Auto Spectator explains the innovative catalytic converter that Honda has. It features a two-layer structure. The first layer takes in the nitrogen oxides from the exhaust gas. This then reacts with the hydrogen taken from the exhaust gases to produce ammonia during the periodic rich-burn controlled by the engine management system. The latter will then be absorbed by the second layer. The ammonia produced by the reaction of the hydrogen and the nitrogen oxide is then used to convert the remaining nitrogen oxide residing in the exhaust. Ammonia is the perfect tool for this since it is a highly-reactive reagent for converting the nitrogen oxide into just nitrogen in oxygen-rich and lean-burn atmosphere. This system also makes way for an improved nitrogen oxide reduction efficiency even in the most serious temperature range of 200-300°C for the exhaust gas systems of diesel engines.

Catalytic converter theft is rampant nowadays. A lot of motorists now fear that the next time they park their car in a public place; their car’s performance may not be the same by the time they leave. But catalytic converter thieves are no longer getting just any kind of catalytic converters; they are now specifically targeting those of the Toyota 4Runner. Such incident has been reported in Chesterfield. This county of Virginia has been having continuous problem regarding stolen catalytic converters, but recently, the theft have been pertaining to a specific vehicle.

One may ask, “What is it with the Toyota 4Runner’s catalytic converter?” Aside from the precious metals in all catalytic converters, the SUV’s catalytic converter is very easy to reach. Other pickup trucks’ cat cons are also relatively easy to reach, since all they have to do is slide under the vehicle and cut the pipe where the precious metals are and get it. It would be very easy for them especially if they know their way around a certain vehicle. Familiarity of which part they need to target and its location is very important for them.

Police reports that aside from the Toyota 4Runner, Tundras and Tacomas are also prime targets, because their catalytic converters are easy to remove.

The three most commonly used precious metals in catalysts are platinum, palladium, and rhodium. According to a police official, these materials are used in the manufacturing electronics, jewelry, glass, and medical and dental equipment. According to some reports, Platinum is the most valuable metal. Reports say that the latest market price is about $1300 an ounce.

The new 2008 Hayabusa has now released its Suzuki GSXI300R. This new bike from Suzuki has an engine capacity increase to 1,340cc, a major power rise to 194bhp and torque up to a massive 114lb ft. Its chassis has been revised, the suspension renewed, the swing-arm is significantly stiffer. The said bike is able to meet the latest Euro 3 emissions regulations because of its big catalytic converter. On the other hand, its massive catalytic converter is accountable for the 7 lb weight gain compare to its previous edition.

The added weight, however, helps a lot when one needs to turn the twist grip. Its added weight helps to make easier for one to make a turn. The new Suzuki GSXI300R Hayabusa is fast. It is so fast that the people in Suzuki highly recommend that one takes it for a ride on a race track. In doing so, one could really experience the full capacity of the GSXI300R Hayabusa. The said bike is so fast that some even recommends that one drives it only on the race track. This, of course, could only be an exaggeration on their part.

Similar to the B-King and GSX-R1000, the Hayabusa features variable power outputs that are attained by pushing a button on the bars. What the Hayabusa considerably improved is its rider wind protection. The old model’s screen was far too low, leaving the driver out in a windblast. This new version, however, is so much better for the protection it gives to the driver.

Takeo Fukui, Honda’s President and CEO, proudly introduced two new clean diesel engines at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show.

The said engines belong to Honda’s well-developed second generation diesel family that carries on the name i-DTEC (intelligent Diesel TEChnology). The i-DTEC makes use of the world’s finest technology in order to reduce emissions to a level equal to that of a petrol engine.

Set to make an appearance in the United States within the next two years, Honda’s next generation super-clean diesel engine features an innovative Lean-burn NOx-reducing Catalyzer. This catalyzer makes use of ammonia to ‘detoxify’ NOx. Upon detoxifying the NOx, it turns into harmless nitrogen. Not like Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems, which makes use of Urea supplied from a storage tank, Honda’s technology uses ammonia generated directly within the catalytic converter.

It has a two-layer structure: one layer absorbs NOx from the exhaust gas. The NOx during periodic rich burn controlled by the engine management system reacts with hydrogen from the exhaust gas. This produces ammonia that is then absorbed by the second layer.

During lean burn operation, the ammonia is utilized to convert the remaining exhaust NOx into nitrogen. One may wonder why ammonia. It is because ammonia is a great reagent for reducing NOx into nitrogen in oxygen-rich, lean-burn atmospheres. The system also has the capacity to provide for more efficient NOx reduction in the most critical temperature range of 200-300°C for diesel engine exhaust systems.