Driven by concerns on deteriorating ambient air quality, measures are being taken across the world to adopt and enforce tighter vehicular emission regulations to minimise tailpipe unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). In regions with advanced regulations, the focus is on limiting the pollutants under real-world or in-use driving conditions. Given the intensified effort to curb global warming and limit fossil fuel use in the transportation sector, several countries have adopted targets on tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions. This confluence of stringent regulations for both criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is leading to a rapid adoption of advanced powertrains and aftertreatment technologies. This is a review of some of these recent advances pertinent to reducing vehicular emissions and developing improved aftertreatment solutions. The scope is limited to gasoline vehicles where the adoption of gasoline direct injection (GDI) and hybrid powertrain technologies is leading to significant shifts in the aftertreatment solutions. There is significant work being done to improve diesel aftertreatment systems especially in light of real-world driving emission (RDE) regulations. These are not covered here, rather the reader is referred to a previous article in this journal’s archive (1), and to a more recent review (2).

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The Influence of Gas Composition on Pd-Based Catalyst Activity in Methane Oxidation – Inhibition and Promotion by NO N. Sadokhina, G. Smedler, U. Nylén, M. Olofsson and L. Olsson, Appl. Catal. B: Environ., 2017, 200, 351 LINK http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2016.07.012 Methane oxidation on Pd and PtPd-based catalysts under lean conditions in the presence of either H2O or…

The post Johnson Matthey Highlights: October 2017 appeared first on Johnson Matthey Technology Review.

The number of valid certificates to ISO management system standards (MSS) rose 8 % in 2016 compared to 2015, according to latest figures of the ISO Survey.

China has been the world’s largest new vehicle market since 2009 and new vehicle sales exceeded 28 million in 2016, among which more than 87% were light-duty vehicles (LDV). In order to reduce emissions and control air pollution China has recently adopted the China 6 emissions standard for LDV which is 50% more stringent than China 5. Besides strengthening the tailpipe emissions limits, China 6 changes the emissions test driving cycle to the Worldwide Harmonised Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (WLTC), adds real road emissions requirements and significantly strengthens evaporative emissions control. This paper introduces the standard development background, summarises the key technical improvements and discusses the areas for further improvements in future.

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1 October is the United Nations International Day of Older Persons, which celebrates the achievements and contributions that older people make to society. This year’s theme – “Stepping into the Future:…

Lithium Sulfur: Mechanism, Modelling and Materials (Li-SM3) was organised by Oxis Energy Ltd, UK, Imperial College London, UK, and the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), USA. It was held at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Savoy Place, London from 26th–27th April 2017. More than 150 researchers from around the world attended…

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Moving goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption requires the collaboration and cooperation of many actors and even more machinery.

As one of the world’s biggest economic sectors, tourism affects virtually all of us. Not only does it currently represent 7 % of the world’s exports in goods and services, generating USD 4 billion a day…

We herein report on the effect of gamma ray radiation on platinum, osmium, rhodium and palladium salt solutions for synthesis of nanoparticles. Pt, Os, Rh and Pd salt solutions were exposed to intense gamma ray irradiation with doses varying from 70 to 120 kGy. The metal ion salt solutions were easily converted into metal nanoparticles using this radiolysis method. The radiolytic conversion effect produced metal nanoparticles suspended in solution. For Pt, Pd and Rh a metal coating on the edges of the polypropylene tube used as a container was unexpectedly observed but not for the Os solution. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analyses confirmed that both the coating and the metal nanoparticles correspond to the pure metal coming from the reduction of the initial salt. Quantitative analysis of the XRD patterns shows information about the size and stress of the converted metals. The production of a metal coating on polypropylene plastic tubes by gamma ray irradiation presents an interesting alternative to conventional techniques of metal deposition especially for coating the inner part of a tube.

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It has long been recognised that sustainability is crucial to business and Johnson Matthey’s sustainability goals for 2017 reflected this (1). But the reverse is also true. Developments in sustainability will be heavily reliant on business involvement, and private sector companies are expected to play a leading role in this. At the United Nations (UN)…

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