Fabrication of catalytic converter with different materials and comparison with existing materials in addition to analysis of turbine installed at the exhaust of 4 stroke SI engine

Abstract

Harmful pollutants (CO, NO, and unburnt hydrocarbons) coming out from the exhaust manifold of an engine must be converted into harmless gases by using catalytic converter. This field has seen vast research for increasing the conversion efficiency of pollutants by using different cheap metals. Nowadays, catalysts used in catalytic converter are noble metals, and they are also critical in the sense that they are not abundant on Earth. Platinum, palladium and rhodium are very expensive; hence, low-cost cars are not installed with catalytic converter, especially in third world countries. This research has been carried out to assess the catalytic activity of catalysts made from the salt/metal precursors, cerium sulphate tetra hydrate, manganese sulphate mono hydrate and copper sulphate penta hydrate that are not expensive and also less affected by the poison. Test sample catalysts were prepared through a coprecipitation method having different molar concentrations, and then tested for the conversion efficiency by applying the catalysts on ceramic plates by using flue gas analyzer. On the basis of the results, final catalysts were prepared and applied on a monolithic ceramic plate and then tested with regard to the resulting conversion rate of pollutants as compared to already installed catalytic converter. Moreover, turbine was installed in the exhaust passage to generate the power that would be utilized to run the electrical accessories of the engine. SOLIDWORKS were used for 3D CAD modeling and the flow analysis of turbine with radial inlet-axial outlet. In addition, ANSYS was used for stress-strain analysis.