Catalytic Convertor

BY
BRIJESH DESAI
12BCH034

Introduction to Engine
A machine that produces power (mechanical) by the combustion of
substance like water or a fuel.
Engines are classified into various categories based on
1. The type of cycle they use,
2. The layout,
3. The energy source used,
4. The cooling mechanism employed
5. Its use.

Two types of Engines based on

the layout
1) Internal Combustion Engine
In an internal combustion engine the expansion of the high-temperature and
high-pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some
component of the engine.
2) External Combustion Engine
An external combustion engine (EC engine) is a heat engine where an
(internal) working fluid is heated by combustion in an external source,
through the engine wall or a heat exchanger.

1) Types of IC engine based on

Ignition
1)Spark Ignition (SI)
An SI engine starts the combustion process in each cycle by use of a spark
plug. The spark plug gives a high voltage electrical discharge between two
electrodes, which ignites the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber
surrounding the plug.
2) Compression Ignition (CI)
The combustion process in a CI engine starts when the air-fuel mixture selfignites due to high temperature in the combustion chamber caused by high
compression.

SI Engine

2) Engine cycle
1) Four-stroke cycle:
I.

Intake or suction

II.

Compression

III. Power or Working Stroke

IV. Exhaust
.2) Two-stroke cycle:
I.

Power

II.

Scavenging

III. Compression

Air Pollution
There are mainly three way to pollution by human being
1. Stationary or point : Industries, power plants etc
2. Mobile : About 50 million cars are produced every year, and over 700
million cars are used worldwide.
3. Indoor : Open fires for cooking and heating may be a serious problem

Types of Vehicular Emissions

1) Exhaust emissions: Exhaust emissions are those which are emitted
through the exhaust pipe when the vehicle is running or is started.
(a) Start-up emissions:
(b) Running emissions:
2) Evaporative emissions:
a) Running Losses
b) Hot soak (Cooling Down) (Losses from the carburettor)
c) Diurnal Emissions (Emissions while Parked and Engine is Cool)
d) Refueling
3) Crankcase Emission (also called running loss emissions)

Exhaust Pollutants
These pollutants are harmful to the atmosphere and living things in
particular. The major types of exhaust pollutants are listed below.
Sulphur Oxides (SOx)
Causes respiratory illness.
SOx forms H2SO4 and thus result in acid rains

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

The formation of ground level Ozone and acid rain

Hydrocarbons and Volatile Organic Compounds (HC and VOC)

Causes smog and ground level Ozone formation.
Prolonged exposure to some of these compounds (like Benzene, Toluene and
Xylene) may also cause Leukaemia.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

It is a greenhouse gas which causes global warming
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
It reaches the blood stream to form Carboxyhemoglobin, which reduces the flow of
Oxygen in blood.
Lead (Pb)
Lead causes harm to the nervous and reproductive systems.
It is a neurotoxin which accumulates in the soft tissues and bones.
Particulate Matter (PM)
Particulate Matter in higher concentrations may lead to heart diseases and lung
cancer.

Emission Standards
1) Bharat stage emission standards
2) European emission standards

Norms

CO (g/kmhr)

HC (g/kmhr)

NOx(g/kmhr)

PM(g/kmhr)

1991Norms

14

3.5

18

1996 Norms

11.3

3.4

14.4

India stage 3000

4.5

1.1

8.0

0.36

Bharat stage II

4.0

1.1

7.0

0.3

Bharat Stage-III

3.1

1.6

5.0

0.10

Bharat Stage-IV

1.5

0.96

3.5

0.03

norms

Standard

Reference

Date

Region

India 3000

Euro 1

2000

Nationwide

Bharat Stage II

Euro 3

2001

NCR*, Mumbai,

2003.04

NCR*, 11 Cities

2005.04

Nationwide

Bharat Stage III

Euro 3

2005.04
2010.04

Bharat Stage IV

Euro 4

2010.04

NCR*, 11 Cities
Nationwide
NCR*, 13 Cities

*National Capital Region Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,

Secunderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur

Emission Control
Advances in engine and vehicle technology continually reduce the toxicity of
exhaust leaving the engine, but these alone have generally been proved
insufficient to meet emissions goals. Therefore, technologies to detoxify the
exhaust are an essential part of emissions control.
Different Emission Control Technique are
1. Air injection
2. Exhaust gas recirculation
3. Catalytic converter

Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to reduce the emissions from an
internal combustion engine (used in most modern day automobiles and
vehicles).
When enough oxygen is not available to oxidize the carbon fuel in these
engines completely into carbon dioxide and water this toxic by-products are
produced.
.

Reactions Involved
Catalytic converters provide a site for theoxidation andreductionof toxic byproducts (like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, andhydrocarbons) of fuel
into less hazardous substances such ascarbon dioxide, water vapor, and
nitrogen gas.
I.

Oxidation:
Oxidation catalytic converter: HC + O2 CO2 + H2O

II.

2CO + O2 2CO2

III. Reduction:
Reduction catalytic converter: 2NO N2 + O2

Parts of catalytic converter

1) Substrate
Honeycomb like structures which contain catalysts on which chemical
reactions take place.
Typical Dimensions
Diameter: 3cm
Length : 4cm
Types
1. Ceramic monolith
2. Metallic monolith

Ceramic monolith
The ceramic material commonly used is porous cordierite
(3MgO.3Al2O3.5SiO3). The cordierite is a low-thermal-expansion ceramic.
Process involved : Blending , Extrusions, Calcination
The triangular cells have about 30 % higher pressure drop compared to the
square cells. On the other hand, hexagonal cell have 10-13 % lower pressure
drop relative to square cell substrate.

Metallic monolith
In metallic monoliths, alternate flat and corrugated thin foils of about 0.05
mm thickness made of temperature resistant aluminum containing steel are
wound in a spiral shape to form the honeycomb structure.

Characteristics
Geometric Data
Wall thickness, mmc

Metallic Monolith

Ceramic Monolith

0.03-0.04

0.06-0.30

Range of cell density/cm3

16-186

16-186

Physical Data
Thermal Conductivity, W/mK

14-33

0.1-0.8

0.4-0.5

0.75-1.05

7.4

3.3-3.7

Specific Heat capacity, kJ/kg.

K

Density, g/cm3

2) Catalyst
Noble metal catalyst
Precious metals like
palladium (Pd),
platinum (Pt) and
rhodium (Rh)
Conversion of three pollutant-emissions, such as
carbon monoxide(CO) into CO2 ,
nitrogen oxides(NOx) to nitrogen and
unburned hydrocarbons (HC) into CO2 and water in engine exhaust gases
(Cars tail pipe)

Relative Activities of Precious Metals and Base Metals for CO and HC

Oxidation

Limitation
Deactivation by sintering due to high temperature.
The need to guarantee catalyst performance over the typical vehicle lifetime of 80,000km also means that excess
metal must be added, since the performance of the catalyst drops off over time.
Highly toxic and the Pd and Rh are carcinogenic in nature.

2) Perovskites catalyst
The general chemical formula for perovskite compounds (is ABO 3) where A and B are
two cations of very different sizes and O is an anion that bonds to both.

Two possible mechanisms, a superficial and an intrafacial one are proposed for
oxidation reduction over these catalysts.

Synthesis Method for Perovskite

1. Combustion Synthesis Method
2. Citrate Method
3. Sol-Gel
4. Co-Precipitation
5. Reactive Grinding method

Steps for Catalyst

Preparation
1. First of all, the salt precursors for the targeted catalyst have been taken in
an amount which is stoichiometric ally balanced.
2. Pre-treatment like calcinations for a decided period of time is given in
muffle furnace. To remove hydrogen compound from salt precursors. This pretreatment is not compulsory for each catalyst.
3. Then the salt precursors are mixed and kept into jar of the ball mill to
provide high energy ball milling. The following conditions are maintained for
milling.
4. This will lead to mechanochemical synthesis among salts, exothermic
reaction will take place and catalyst will be formed.
5. Then the calcinations of catalyst are done for 11hr at 600 C.

3) Washcoat
The wash coat has pores of varying sizes ranging from 20 to 100 .
Ceramic and metallic monoliths have a geometrical surface area of
2.0-4.0 m2/l of substrate volume. Wash coat increase surface area of
the catalyst substrate to 10000-40000 m2/l of monolith volume.
The wash coat components support the catalyst function and to
improve resistance of catalyst to thermal de-activation processes.
A Wash coat composition comprises of a
Soluble Wash coat salt species
A polar organic solvent and
An insoluble particulate material

Air-fuel ratio

Designing of reactor
In the designing of catalytic Converter the sizing of reactor is very important.
The cell density & the porosity will decide the back pressure generated in the
reactor. The conversion will depend upon the length of the reactor which in
decided by the volume.
.

Where, V is the volume of reactor, FA0 is the molar flow rate of the reactant, XA
is the fraction conversion, rA is the reaction rate.

steady state Plug flow reactor with constant density system:

e performance equation can be given as:

e reactor volume can be calculated from:

m the value of internal diameter the reactor surface area can be calculated

e length of the reactor can be calculated from:

VR /A
e space time was evaluated as the ratio of reactor volume to that of volumetric flow rate [15]
V R / V0

Modelling of Reactor
Consider the conversion efficiency for the case of a catalytic converter
operating in the mass transfer limited regime under steady state conditions
and a typical monolith channel as shown in Fig. Under such conditions
conversion efficiency can be obtained using the Sherwood number (Sh), a
fundamental non-dimensional parameter for mass transfer.

Treating the flow as one-dimensional and neglecting axial diffusion then a simple mass balance can be performed
on a channel element of length dx ,
(UAC) x - (UAC) x + dx = h*P dx [C(x) C wall]
Hence
C(x) = C0 Expo (- h*P*x / U*A)
Assumption wall concentrations can be assumed to be negligibly small.
Defining a channel hydraulic diameter, d = A/P, then with the mass transfer coefficient h defined as
h = Sh * Dm / d
The concentration at the channel exit is
C (L) = C0 Expo (- 4*L*Sh*Dm /U*d2)

And we can define a conversion efficiency as,

Consider a monolith comprised of numerous such channels.

A monolith superficial velocity, Us that assumes all the porous medium is fluid, i.e. there is negligible wall thickness.
Considering the case for channels of square section, the shape normally associated with ceramic monoliths. For this case
for a substrate porosity, and cell density, n we have

If a uniform conversion efficiency is required across the monolith then according to above Eqs. we must have for all
channels

This suggests that for a given flow distribution there is an infinite number of combinations of monolith parameters that
can be chosen to give a uniform conversion efficiency across the monolith. For example if the monolith length and wall
thickness are fixed and constant then the channel hydraulic diameter, d is given by

Alternatively if the channel hydraulic diameter and wall thickness are fixed and constant (hence monolith
porosity is constant), then the monolith length is given by

In both cases d and L will vary across the monolith because in general Us will vary but the conversion efficiency
for all channels is constant i.e. optimum use of the monolith is ensured. This assumes of course that the
distribution of Us is known a priori.
The pressure loss can be described as,

Where K = 28:454 for cells of square cross-sectional area and neglects other losses associated with the developing
boundary layer and entrance effects. These can be included but for the sake of simplicity and without loss of
generality above equation will be considered here.
By way of example if we are given values of c , L and w then,

Alternatively for given values of c, d and w Eqs. (9) and (10) give

Utilising this Equations for the flow resistance will therefore provide iterative solutions to the velocity distribution Us
across the substrate ensuring uniform conversion is achieved within each channel.

Manufacturers
1. Faurecia Emission Control Technologies
2. Katcon
3. Sud-Chemie India Pvt limited
4. Unifrax India limited

Thank you