ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Environmental Sustainability

Environmental Sustainability

Introduction

Over the past 20 years technological advances have enabled the reduction of automotive emissions to about 95% carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons and 75% Nitrogen oxides. This represents a clear example of the co-evolution of the automotive and refining, the first and perhaps the most significant: The elimination of lead from gasoline and therefore the possibility of equipping new vehicles with catalytic converters to treat emission gases with a consequent reduction in the toxicity thereof. This design is completed with the addition of the oxygen sensor, which allows permanent control and regulate the ideal amount of air for combustion. Among the solutions studied worldwide to minimize the toxicity of the emissions from the combustion of gasoline engines have been developed and Improvements in combustion chamber design by the use of the catalytic converter system (Degobert, 2012).

The catalytic converter or catalyst component is an internal combustion reciprocating engine and the exhaust which serves for the reduction and control of the gases expelled by harmful internal combustion engine. It is used in gasoline engines or Otto cycle, and most recently in the diesel engine. Unlike the ventilation systems, the catalysts that are used in order to control the emission and reduce the effects, and therefore minimizing to the user the exposure to the inhalation of gases.

The hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) before being expelled by the exhaust are converted into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Nitrogen oxide (NO) is dissociated into molecular nitrogen (N2), the main constituent of atmospheric air, and oxygen O2. For these reactions occur dissociation catalyst must be at a temperature of 500 ° C. The catalyst which is the main component in the converter is made up of the natural elements; platinum, rhodium and palladium and noxious gases, and when they come into contact with the combustion caused by the engine, it generates and accelerates chemical reactions that decompose and oxidize these gases transforming them into harmless gases to the environment. The efficiency of the catalyst depends on the fuel / air ratio is as close to the stoichiometric ratio and that is why the efficiency of the catalyst depends on the correct functioning of the lambda probe. This is accomplished by the engine control unit (Heck & Farrauto, 2011).

Currently the engines consume fuel massively in two ways worldwide: gasoline and diesel. In large concentrations of population these combustion gases have wreak havoc on ...