Development of Non-noble Metal Based Cost Effective Catalytic Converter for Engine Exhaust /

Abstract

catalytic converters. With the increment in the prices of these precious metals and their potential threat to the health of human beings, it is important to investigate some low cost and less threatening substitutes. In this thesis report, I am going to delineate hydrothermally produced Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst and zirconia promoted Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst. Cobalt nitrate hexahydrate Co(NO3)2.6H2O was used as a precursor material for Co3O4 and TiO2 nanoparticles were used as support. Catalysts were characterized by using SEM, XRD, and TGA. In past some of the work had been progressed on Co3O4 as catalyst over TiO2 support but never tested in real conditions. In this report I am presenting two catalysts one is Co3O4/TiO2 which is hydrothermally produced and the other is Co3O4/TiO2 promoted by ZrO2 to investigate the effect of zirconia on conversion. The catalyst was coated on stainless steel wire mesh by using the dip-coating technique and then was tested in real-time conditions. This catalytic converter setup was mounted on the exhaust pipe of the motorcycle and the readings were taken live. RPMs of the bike were increased gradually from 1500 to 6000 with interval of 1500 and results were taken by using Crypton’s exhaust gas analyzer and E instruments’ E4500-2. It was seen that there was drastic decrement in the emissions. Zirconia promoted Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst was observed to be more efficient towards NOx and CO conversions. While in case of hydrocarbons Simple Co3O4/TiO2 was seen more conversion efficient than the other one.