18.11.2008

Nissan to introduce ultra-low precious metal catalyst

Nissan is introducing its ultra-low precious metal catalyst on the new Cube, to be launched in the Japanese market next week. The breakthrough catalyst, a world’s first, utilises half the amount of precious metals compared with conventional catalysts. Of the world’s precious metals reserve, a high percentage of platinum (50%) and rhodium (80%) are used in the automotive industry as catalysts.

In conventional catalysts, the high temperatures within the catalyst cause the precious metals to cluster, reducing the exposed metal surface area, leading to less-effective cleaning of the emissions. To compensate, existing converters contain a higher amount of precious metals in order to maintain an efficient level of cleaning.  With Nissan’s pioneering technology, the precious metals attached to the substrates are separated by a “wall material” which prevents clustering of the precious metals, leading to improved cleaning efficiency.

Masanori Nakamura, manager of the Nissan Research Centre explained the concept using the analogy of “eggs protected in a bird’s nest”, adding that “Nissan engineers approached the problem from a physical perspective rather than a chemical perspective in order to achieve the breakthrough.”

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