Cataltic Converters have a salvage value of about $40 (each) in junk yards.
So, if Platinum is worth about $80 per gram (or $80 x 30 grams = $2400 per ounce), how much Platinum is in each older converter, and where is it located?
And, can you make any money collecting old Catalyic Converters and removing the special screen wire, which is coated with Platinum to prevent it from burning at higher temperatures?
And, are newer ceramic screens (invented, recently,) Catalytic Converters, too?
Therefore, is HIGH HEAT the “Catalyst” and not Platinum for removing carbons and unburned gasoline in gasoline and diesel exhaust fumes?
Process for monitoring the operativeness of a catalytic converter Document Type and Number:
United States Patent 5955665
Abstract:The invention relates to a process for monitoring the operativeness of a catalytic converter used to clean the exhaust gas in an internal combustion engine that is regulated by a lambda sensor through temperature measurement with a heat tone sensor exhibiting a catalytically active coating.
The process provides information on both the percentage of individual, non-converted exhaust components and on the current thermal load on the catalytic converter. Readings are taken by the heat tone sensor at time intervals corresponding to the normal regulating frequency of the lambda sensor. This results in a quadratic function in which the height of the amplitude represents the percentage of non-converted individual exhaust components. The mean temperature of the catalytic converter can be inferred by rectifying the quadratic function.
Therefore: Could the Lamdba Sensor or Oxygen Sensor be a “Glorified Heat Sensor?”
Windifuel; you need reasonably high heat and a catalyst to CONVERT the unburned hydrocarbons to harmless exhaust products. You also need to convert carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide (CO2). If your engine malfunctions because of too rich a mixture or plugs not firing, you overload the converter and coat the platinum CATALYST to where it does not function. Some converters even plug up and cut your engine’s power.
Changed you screen name, have you, James? “A rose by any other name…”
You can’t compare the price of pure platinum to the salvage value of a converter without taking into account the profit of the salvage yard when they sell it to a recycling facility and the cost of extracting the platinum from the old converter. There is probably considerably less platinum (and palladium) in a salvage converter than when it was new. A percentage of the old converters will probably have almost no recoverable precious metal left, and the salvage price has to cover those “duds”.
That patent you quote from is not for a converter, it’s for a PROCESS to monitor the effectiveness of a converter. It’s not talking about how a converter and lambda sensor work. Your interpretation is just wrong. Lambda sensors don’t measure temperature.
I have a wood stove with a catalytic converter. It’s a ceramic honeycomb with a very thin coating of platinum and palladium compounds. It’s similar to the first generation auto converters that only reduced hydrocarbons. My stove manual states that it would normally take a temperature of ~1200F to “reburn” the smoke that comes off a wood fire. The converter lowers the temperature that this happens to ~400F. Not only does it nearly eliminate the wood smoke (but not the odor so much) it almost doubles the heat output of the stove.
I think this is just our old friend Shakespirit having some more fun with us, just under a new name.