Honda turning to plasma to beat diesel emissions
In an effort to meet pollution regulations in the United States, Honda Motor Company is breaking out a plasma reactor to curb emissions in its diesel engines.
According to Bloomberg News, Honda has reportedly patented a new method to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by pushing exhaust fumes through electrically charged atoms in a gaseous state. By doing so, it strips the nitrogen oxides, in the process forming nitrogen dioxide that's later absorbed by silver and alkali metals. Uh-huh.
Honda is hoping to be in the diesel passenger car business in America by 2009, but right now there isn't a single company capable of meeting the emissions requirements of California (and those Northeastern states that mirror its standards). The automaker hopes that the new plasma technology could make them the first.
[Source: Bloomberg News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rwcmick 2:43PM (5/27/2006)
Honda's didn't discover Plasma-Assisted Catalytic Reduction, but has figured out a patentable approach to how it can be achieved with a reasonable cost and perhaps without much of a fuel economy hit. Most engineers agree that to get a system like this to work, there has to be a tremendous amout of tuning/tweaking and all powertrain systems are going to have to work together like a symphony.
http://allcarsallthetime.blogspot.com/2006/05/hondas-diesel-emissions-treatment.html
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gbh 3:27PM (5/27/2006)
True, it's hardly an invention of the plasma idea.
However, IF they have it drilled down, it certainly is a great leap beyond all those who have tried before and not succeeded.
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risingsun 4:32PM (5/27/2006)
Why is it that diesel emissions for cars have become super strict, yet millions of diesel trucks roam the streets almost totally unregulated? You've all been trapped behind one... someone who simply must have the biggest, baddest truck there is. That 1-ton Duramax with a chip, a 4" exhaust, and god knows what else, spewing THICK BLACK SMOG every time they even THINK about touching the gas pedal. Those 38" boggers sure don't help the situation either. Truck sales only survive on the tough guy macho American mentality. People want a Ford Super Duty because you can TELL it's a 3/4 ton or 1-ton. It's about impressing others. You hardly ever see these trucks actually PULLING anything. And why is it that most of the drivers of these trucks are males of short stature? Weird huh... compensation anybody?
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jared 5:29PM (5/27/2006)
I don't really see what F350s (and even less so, their drivers) have to do with it.
We live in the age of $3/gal gasoline, and we can all imagine prices rising much further. Why is there any law on the books that prevents me from buying a car that gets the best mileage and reliability possible?
We've already chosen a strong economy over environmental responsibility at the macro level, so why keep screwing the little guy out of more gas money than is absolutely necessary?
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goat 9:53PM (5/27/2006)
I'm pretty sure the Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC is capable of meeting California emissions, as it is going to be sold in all fifty states beginning this fall.
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goat 9:55PM (5/27/2006)
jared, risingsun,
Not only that, but California in particular, is focusing on certain emissions to the exclusion of other concerns.
They are forcing people to emit more carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, because of an ill-considered (and now shown to be counter-productive) emphasis on nitrogen oxides.
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Howard Kerr 7:51AM (5/28/2006)
I hope ALL those folks who think it's just stupid that automakers aren't putting diesels into cars in this country like they are in Europe, read this story.
For risingsun and other folks: after a very long time of next to no emission regulation, diesels are "getting the boom lowered on them". ALL moving diesel engines sold in the U.S. are about to (if they already aren't) come under very tough regs. Mercedes and their Bluetec system have apparently licked the problems, but VW has not said if they will be able to offer a diesel powered car in 2007 that isn't really an '06 leftover. Because the biggest markets for many diesel powered cars are in those states with their own, even tougher than federal standards, car manufactureres are hesitant to offer a engine that can't be sold in all their markets. This technology is very expensive and will need a large number of buyers to offset the costs.
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