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The first automotive catalysts were produced in the early 1970s in the United States, particularly in California, in response to the severe air pollution over Los Angeles and the ensuing discussion about preserving air quality in major American cities.
The first two states to take drastic measures in this direction were California and Florida, where pollution problems were most severe. The term 'smog'—a blend of 'smoke' and 'fog'—originates from the air over Los Angeles.
In Europe, the first countries to mandate the use of catalysts in vehicles were Switzerland and Sweden. In the following years, Germany and most of the EU member states followed, and from 1993, a law was introduced banning the production of cars without catalysts.
Environmental standards were also introduced for each make and model of car with permissible levels of exhaust emissions, known as Euro 1, Euro 2, etc. In December 2007, the European Commission adopted a resolution to reduce CO2 emissions to a level of 120 g/km by 2012 for passenger cars of each brand, which would lead to a 25% fuel savings compared to current consumption levels.
In the USA, the new energy law requires car manufacturers to achieve a mileage of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, 40% more than the current rate, which seems incredible given the current state of the automotive industry there.
The first automotive catalysts used small beads resembling styrofoam as the active mass, instead of a ceramic honeycomb. This required a large canister to accommodate the thousands of beads and resulted in low efficiency of the converter. With advancements in technology, the use of a ceramic honeycomb with small cells was introduced, aiming to increase the active surface area on one hand and reduce the volume of the canister on the other.
The unfolded area of modern catalysts is more than the size of a football field—65/110 metres, and new technologies continuously reduce the size of the cells in favour of increasing the total surface area. While initially, the catalysts had about 100 cells per cubic inch, the most advanced now have over 1200 cells! All of this leads to a tremendous improvement in the efficiency of the device and a reduction in the number of precious metals used.
Since the introduction of catalysts into production, there has been an ongoing struggle between automotive manufacturers and environmental agencies. The former do everything possible to reduce the cost of the device through new engine technologies and by reducing harmful gas emissions—consequently, decreasing the amount of precious metals in the catalysts, which is the most significant expense in the system.
The latter continuously strictly monitor compliance with environmental standards and even more strictly adjust them towards stricter and lower values, with the goal of preserving the planet's ozone layer. In the last 3-4 years, in connection with the drastic increase in metal exchange prices, especially platinum and rhodium, there has been increasing talk about replacing platinum, or at least some of it, in the catalysts of gasoline cars. Of course, Japanese engineers are leaders in these new developments.
From Nissan and Daihatsu, since 2009, some models have introduced catalysts based on gold and silver, replacing about 20-25% of the platinum. Mazda has installed the first catalyst with nanoparticles in its Mazda 3 model for Japan, reducing the necessary amount of precious metals for the device by 90%.
Despite all these achievements, scientists and engineers predict that traditional three-way catalysts will still dominate production for at least another 15-20 years. There will be a significant increase in the production of new diesel particulate filters and catalysts for hybrid vehicles, which require more platinum due to the so-called 'cold start'—i.e., engine operation in cold mode.
A very common question from drivers is: What ultimately is the content of precious metals in the catalyst?
Unfortunately, there is no precise answer to this question. On one hand, automotive manufacturers jealously guard this information as a trade secret and proprietary knowledge regarding the amount of metals initially invested. Based on piecemeal data about the quantities purchased by individual manufacturers, we can assume that the factory-invested amount reaches up to 4 grams per unit, which of course is very relative and depends on many factors—type of vehicle, engine size, region of production, environmental standards, and others.
On the other hand—as the operation of each vehicle progresses, there is a significant reduction in the amount of precious metals in the ceramic. Here too, the variables are too many to give a definitive figure—age of the vehicle, mileage covered, driving method and style, driving mode—urban/rural, climatic conditions, fuel quality, vehicle maintenance, etc. Our observations over more than 10 years indicate that in Bulgaria, the amount is around 1.5 – 2 grams per 1 kg of ceramic.