FAST LIGHTOFF CATALYTIC CONVERTER

MUCH OF THE TOTAL OPERATIONAL CYCLE EMISSION FROM AUTOMOBILES OCCURS DURING THE INITIAL MINUTES OF ENGINE OPERATION, BEFORE THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER HAS BEEN SUFFICIENTLY WARMED BY INLET AIR TO REACH FULL OPERATING TEMPERATURE. PRECISION COMBUSTION, INC. (PCI) WILL DEVELOP ITS FAST THERMAL RESPONSE CATALYTIC METAL MONOLITH TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE RAPID EFFECTIVE COLD STARTING PERFORMANCE OF AUTOMOTIVE CATALYTIC CONVERTERS. BUILDING UPON A SUCCESSFUL NASA SBIR PHASE I PROJECT DEVELOPING A LOW TEMPERATURE CATALYTIC GLOW PLUG AND UPON A SUCCESSFUL ARMY SBIR PHASE I PROJECT DEVELOPING A DIESEL SUBZERO STARTING SYSTEM (NOW BEING COMPLETED), PCI BELIEVES THIS ELECTRICALLY-HEATED METAL MONOLITH TECHNOLOGY CAN BE OPERATIONAL WITHIN SECONDS OF ENGINE START-UP AND WILL SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE HYDROCARBON AND CO EMISSIONS DURING THE PERIOD PRIOR TO WHEN THE CONVENTIONAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER REACHES OPERATING TEMPERATURE. IN ADDITION, PASSIVE EXHAUST HEAT WILL ENABLE THIS NEW CATALYTIC CONVERTER TO SUPPLANT THE CURRENT CONVERTER FOR WARM ENGINE OPERATION. IN PHASE I, PCI WILL DO LABORATORY EXPERIMENTATION TO DEMONSTRATE EFFECTIVENESS, DO PRELIMINARYDURABILITY AND DESIGN WORK, AND BUILD A PROTOTYPE FOR COLD START TESTING BY THE NEW YORK STATE DIVISION OF AIR RESEARCH. IN PHASE II, PCI WILL DEVELOP AND FIELD TEST ADVANCED PROTOTYPES, OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE, CONTROL, DURABILITY AND COSTS.