From this end-on idea, you can gaze the petite microducts in this converter's caramic matrix.
Bemoaned, belittled and sweetheart; catalytic converters can be many matters Exceedingly citizens, depending on their perspective. While converters complete drain horsepower and fuel economy, they besides cook up an huge strength in terms of the engine's exceeding hot emissions. With the millions of vehicles on the method nowadays, that amounts to a not-insignificant improvement in air and drool factor for coming generations. This combustion creates carbon dioxide, water and more heat. That extra heat drives the second block's temperature high enough to force the carbon monoxide molecules to pick up one of the stuck oxygen atoms, thus turning dangerous carbon monoxide into relatively harmless carbon dioxide. The net result between these two reactions is that most of the nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and unburned fuel molecules turn into nitrogen, carbon dioxide, heat and water.
Fun Facts
Platinum and rhodium coat the walls of the micro-ducts in the fundamental ceramic block; platinum and palladium coat the micro-duct walls in the moment block.
First Stage Recombining
The inceptive period of emissions reformation happens in the anterior ceramic block, after exhaust heat drives the block's internal temperature up to approximately 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Exhaust gases consist of three basic molecules: nitrogen oxide (nitrogen and O2 atoms bonded cool), carbon monoxide and unburned fuel. After exiting the engine, the nitrogen oxide comes into contact with the Boiling platinum and rhodium in the elementary block. This causes Everyone nitrogen oxide iota to lose an O2 and nitrogen atom. After Sufficiently of these atoms strip out, nitrogen recombines with nitrogen (creating pure nitrogen Gauze) and O2 recombines with O2 (creating pure O2 Gauze).
Second Stage
Instantly the nitrogen Gauze, O2 Gauze, carbon monoxide and unburned fuel enter the second catalyst block. The oxygen gas from the first reaction sticks to the platinum and palladium walls there. Unburned fuel (mostly hydrogen and carbon) encounters these free oxygen atoms, combusting with them just the way that they would inside your engine. On the contrary to dig how chief converters are, first off you exigency to catch prerrogative how they attempt.
Construction Basics
Latest catalytic converters consist of a stainless steel outer occasion and two ceramic blocks inside. These ceramic blocks aren't solid; rather, they are constructed to resemble a honeycomb, Gunfire wrapped up with thousands of small holes referred to as micro-ducts.Platinum, rhodium, palladium and cesium (used in some oxygen-storing converters) are among the rarest and most expensive metals on Earth. A single pound of any of these can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000.
It's technically illegal to remove or bypass a working catalytic converter, even on race-cars and off-road vehicles that will never see street duty or be subject to emissions inspections. Why EPA inspectors don't show up to every dragstrip in the country is anybody's guess.
Removing or bypassing a catalytic converter can help to free up some horsepower, but it might not be as much as you think. Modern ceramic-matrix cats are efficient and free-flowing enough that removing them -- especially on small-displacement vehicles -- is generally more trouble than it is worth; especially when you consider that doing so will trigger a "check engine" light, requiring the installation of a "MIL eliminator" in the second O2 sensor's wiring harness to trick the computer into thinking that the converter is still there.
