Most drivers don’t realise it, but traditional car air filters are only designed to filter dust and pollen. As they do not remove harmful small components, like nitrous oxides (NOx) and sulphur oxides (SOx), from the air inside the vehicle, these often exceed safe limits and harm unknowing drivers. Here Dr Alexander Krajete, founder and CEO of car emissions treatment specialist Krajete, explains how new car emissions treatment technology can be added to car filters and reduce emissions by over 90 per cent.
Harmful emissions are an inevitable byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion in a combustion engine-powered vehicle. Because of the high temperatures involved, the resulting emissions are a cocktail of organic and inorganic compounds, some of which are regulated with threshold values defined using standards that vary by region.
While the subject of much media focus, carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the least harmful products. Carbon monoxide (CO), NOx and SOx all represent much greater threats. For example, CO, which is a product of any incomplete combustion, is extremely harmful to humans when present at only 1 per cent by volume. Additionally, N2O is an extremely potent greenhouse gas with 265 times the warming potential of CO2 over a 100-year period.
The mechanical filters currently fitted to cars do not remove these harmful emissions and drivers are left unaware, as compounds like CO and NOx have no smell.
Other compounds included in the emissions cocktail are benzene and toluene, both of which are harmful. The irony is that purchasing both benzene and toluene is regulated because of their well-known harm potential, but the fact that both are produced by every petrol and diesel vehicle on the roads is largely ignored.
The source of the problem
As most are aware, the main source of a car’s emissions is the exhaust. However, because cars are fitted with indoor ventilators and drivers tend to open windows, occupants are passively exposed to the outputted emissions on an ongoing basis.
‘Cold start’ engines cause a lot of extra emissions because the catalyst, filters and oxidisers do not operate properly until the vehicle is up to normal running temperature. This is the period at which the emissions from the exhaust are at their most dangerous.
This makes reversing at slow speeds directly after turning the engine on, for example when reversing out of a driveway, the most harmful time for drivers in terms of emissions. Essentially, this is because they are slowly reversing directly through the most potent cocktail of harmful chemicals.
Regenerative emissions treatment
It is possible to fit cars with a system at the exhaust that upgrades the emission spectrum produced to the point of being genuinely clean air. For example, Krajete’s vehicle emissions treatment solution can be installed at the exhaust, and also in a bypass configuration to deal directly with cold start issues.
Our emissions filter, installed during manufacturing, removes harmful small components like CO, NOx and SOx, and does so in a regenerative manner instead of catalytically destroying them.
Essentially, the solution is a large sponge with an affinity to the target gases that uses physisorption rather than chemisorption, meaning bonds between the filter and gases are weaker and they can be recovered after. When tested, the technology reduces harmful emissions from across the spectrum by around 90 per cent.
This means that, when built into cars, it allows manufacturers to boast about genuinely green production methods and contributes towards their broader sustainability goals. The fact that the system is regenerative allows for the captured and stored gases to be reused in other areas. Alternatively, the captured gases can be sold onwards to a third party, generating new revenue streams from what are otherwise problematic emissions.
Example uses of captured gases include industrial-scale acid production. NO2 is a key intermediate in the production of nitric acid, which is used in fertiliser production and explosives. SO2 is a key intermediate in the production of sulphuric acid, which has used in fertilisers and batteries. Sulphur oxides also have applications in fumigation and are often used in pest control, while nitrous oxides are commonly used in propellants.
By using captured gases in these applications, and others beyond them, it reduces industrial production requirements, further improving sustainability across the industrial ecosystem.
Of course, despite being all around us 24/7, cars are not the only source of harmful gas emissions. Fortunately, this technology can be used in other areas beyond car emissions and applied to agricultural vehicles, like tractors and harvesters, and, even, large cargo ships.
While electrification is progressing rapidly in the automotive sector, which will address some issues with car emissions, other industries like agriculture and freight shipping will rely on combustion engines for many decades to come and there is little regulation or focus on change in these sectors.
To find out more about innovative technology for removing harmful small components from car emissions, visit https://www.krajete.com/services/removal-of-residual-components/.
Telephone: +43 699 172 668 20
www: https://www.krajete.com/
e-mail: info@krajete.com
