Catalytic Converter: the Genie in Your Car’s Exhaust System

So you just went to get your car checked, and your dealer said that your cat is dead and you have to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a replacement. Now you’re contemplating whether you should buy a new cat or can go about with your life without doing so. But the truth is, you do need to replace your catalytic converter, as the laws in Australia require you to do so. No car that’s been manufactured in the past few decades is without a cat, and there’s a pretty big reason for that.

Cars run on diesel or gasoline, right? Both of them are made from petroleum, and if you didn’t know, petroleum is formed from the remains of tiny sea creatures which have rotted, heated up and gotten squeezed by layers of sea-bed rocks. The substance contained in petroleum is made up of hydrocarbons, so in theory, when you burn hydrocarbon fuel with oxygen, you release a lot of energy and produce nothing but water and carbon dioxide, which are relatively harmless and clean.

However, in practice, there’s a lot of oxygen in the air, and there might be impurities in the fuel you’re burning and the engine, which results in some air pollution as a byproduct. These pollutant gases include a toxic gas called carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides which cause smog (smog is the cloudy, choking vehicle pollution that we all hate).

And here’s where the catalytic converter comes into play. This small part plays a huge role in protecting the ozone layer of our planet and it does so in a very interesting way. For this reason, all vehicles must have a catalytic converter Australia and world wide, where emission laws are up-to-date. You can buy a catalytic converter Australia manufactured and support local businesses.

Catalytic converters use metallic or ceramic blocks with a wash-coat which contains precious metals, such as rhodium, platinum and palladium. These metals react with smog-forming and harmful emissions and convert them to nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. Here’s a brief explanation of how the process goes.

• Exhaust gases go in the reduction block of the catalyst where the oxides of nitrogen react and form oxygen and nitrogen.
• The exhaust gases then go into the oxidation block of the catalyst and there hydrocarbons and newly formed oxygen react to form carbon dioxide.
• As a result, the exhausts which exit from the catalytic converter are far less harmful.