BOSTON Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Clean Air Act, legislated to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions from diesel engines and signed into law by President Bush, just went into effect January 1, 1998. NOx is produced when nitrogen and oxygen from the air are brought together at the high temperatures of combustion chambers. Lowering flame temperatures by retarding the timing will decrease NOx, but will increase soot emissions which is not an acceptable solution.
The only known way to reduce NOx and soot emissions simultaneously from diesel engines is to add microscopic quantities of platinum and rhodium to the air and fuel entering the combustion chambers. The platinum burns the soot to CO2 while the rhodium reduces the NOx back to nitrogen and oxygen. This is identical to the chemistry of the catalytic converter in a gasoline vehicle where the platinum of the catalytic converter burns the CO to CO2, and the rhodium reduces the NOx back to nitrogen and oxygen.
But, you cannot use a catalytic converter with diesel because the unburned fuel is not a vapor like CO. Soot is a solid. The moment the soot would begin to enter a catalytic converter, the passageways of the converter would get clogged, and the engine will stop functioning.
The simple technology of adding platinum and rhodium to the air and fuel entering an engine was developed by National Fuelsaver Corp. of Boston and is described in U.S. patent 5,085,841 and in SAE paper 891634. It applies the platinum and rhodium chemistry of catalytic converters to the combustion chambers of both gasoline and diesel engines. In 1979, National Fuelsaver began marketing their Platinum Gasaver which adds platinum, rhodium and rhenium to the air and fuel entering a gasoline engine.
The platinum catalyzes the CO to burn inside the engine, converting this pollutant into 22% more miles per gallon, while cleaning out the carbon for longer engine life. The rhodium reduces the NOx and the rhenium raises the octane of the gasoline, making premium fuel unnecessary.
The vested interests have fought the proliferation of this technology since 1977 because it reduces fuel consumption significantly. Since diesel combustion is the one area where there is no fuel savings with this platinum technology, it will be interesting to see if the vested interests allow the Clean Air Act to be or NOx to be.
For further information call: 1-800-537-7427.
SOURCE National Fuelsaver Corp.
-0- 2/17/98 /CONTACT: Carl Ragland of National Fuelsaver Corp., 800-537-7427/ CO: National Fuelsaver Corp. ST: Massachusetts IN: OIL SU:
(17 Feb 1998 08:06 EST)