There are numerous processes in chemistry in which catalysts play a role. Their job is to set in motion or accelerate a chemical process.
Catalyst materials, therefore, serve as “mediators.” However, they have not consumed themselves during this process and emerge unchanged from the entire process.
Depending on where they are used, they can be made of very different materials. In a car, the catalytic converter is a device that uses certain substances to clean the exhaust gases from vehicles. The catalytic converter is part of the exhaust system. The harmful exhaust gases of a regular gasoline engine are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides.
The so-called regulated catalytic converter causes the harmful carbon monoxide to be converted into carbon dioxide, that hydrocarbons are converted into carbon dioxide and water vapor and that the nitrogen oxides become nitrogen.
The actual catalyst substances, i.e., the “intermediaries” in car catalysts, are noble metals such as platinum, palladium, or rhodium. These substances are applied to a honeycomb ceramic body. The combustion gases come out of the engine, are guided over the catalytic converter’s surface, and finally expelled through the exhaust pipe after being cleaned – the pollutant-rich exhaust gases have been converted into low-pollutant.
For this process to work, the fuel-air mixture must be regulated so that the exhaust gases always have the same composition. To achieve this, the oxygen content is continuously monitored. The so-called lambda probe is responsible for this.
A car with a catalytic converter must be refueled with unleaded petrol, otherwise, the catalytic layer loses its effectiveness. The lead seals the surface, so to speak, so that no other molecules can contact it.
What You Should Know About Catalyst Recycling
The outer steel block of the device is handed over to metal recycling industries. It can be used to make recycled steel items, and maybe even in the automotive world. The catalytic converter refining by repurchasing also allows you to earn some money to amortize the replacement device’s price. Moreover, the price offered by direct online providers is more interesting than by intermediaries.