Honeycomb catalytic convertor substrate: keeping the air clean since 1974

Historical Perspective of the Development

of the Ceramic Honeycomb Catalytic Convertor Substrate:

Missed it? Watch here

The catalytic convertor is a pollution control device used to control the emissions from internal combustion engines. The clean air act of 1970 mandated that all model year 1975 vehicles meet limits placed on CO and HC emissions even though there was not a clear technology capable of meeting those standards at  that time.  This set off a furious challenge to develop and produce a cost effective, mass-produced catalytic convertor device within a very short time-frame.  This talk offers a historical perspective of the work done at Corning between 1971 and 1974 to develop the ceramic honeycomb substrate.  Corning took a gamble that they could produce the winning technology and literally risked the future of the entire company to take on the challenge.  The results of the EMCON (emissions control) project enabled the introduction of the catalytic convertor and these devices have been in use ever since, preventing many billions of tons of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides from entering our atmosphere.  This talk will review the wild ride in those short 3 years that produced the winning technology.

Doug Beall is a development fellow at Corning Inc.  He has worked in the environmental technologies division working on product and process innovations dating back to 1985 and he holds 65 US patents.  Doug had a chance to work with many of the scientists that were directly involved with the development of the catalytic convertor substrate.  This historical perspective is based on interviews with many of the key players from the EMCON project.  Doug originally delivered this presentation as an invited talk at the American Chemical Society annual meeting in New Orleans in 2018.