Award for Sustainable Products and Technology
The Johnson Matthey Award for Sustainable Products and Technology recognises individuals, teams, sites or businesses that demonstrate excellence in the invention, development or marketing of new products, processes or technology which deliver more sustainable solutions to our customers.
The judges were looking for evidence of:
- The contribution the entry makes towards achieving the Sustainability 2017 Vision.
- The social / environmental / ethical / financial impact of the entry.
- Employee engagement and involvement.
Technology Centres Contribute to Next Generation Clean Diesels
The Emission Control Technologies business' Royston and Gothenburg Technology Centres were recognised for excellence in product development winning the 2008/09 Award for Sustainable Products and Technology.
With ever tightening legislation to control emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), soot and nitrogen oxide (NOx) from diesel vehicles, major technical advances in catalyst systems to remove these pollutants are required. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst technology is one of the solutions to meeting these targets, and SCR catalysts are already widely used to control harmful emissions from trucks and buses. But from 2014, tougher Euro 6 standards for diesel passenger cars will be introduced and novel catalyst systems will be required to meet the new legislation.
Building on our experience in designing SCR systems for trucks and buses, Johnson Matthey has gone on to successfully develop advanced SCR catalyst systems that enable diesel passenger cars to meet the demanding requirements of the Euro 6 standard.
The science behind this success story was developed by Johnson Matthey’s European Technology Centres. The system uses catalyst technology consisting of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), catalysed soot filter (CSF) and SCR catalyst to remove the four pollutants: CO, HC, soot and NOx.
To understand the detail of customer requirements, the centre followed its usual practice of importing customer protocols into its test facilities in the UK and Sweden using the tests to tune catalyst performance. It then set about designing complete catalyst systems, building on earlier designs which met the less strict Euro 5 standard. Computer modelling and testing of engines and vehicles were done to optimise performance and cost. New options were designed to boost performance.
All the development teams got involved in the project, often working to very tight deadlines. The teams worked hard to ensure that the new DOC, CSF and SCR catalyst formulations beat off the competition, then successfully optimised the system and finally took the system from the laboratory scale to full scale production.
The four way emissions system significantly cuts NOx emissions from diesel cars in a cost effective way. Even the relatively small number of vehicles equipped with the new system in 2009 ahead of the legislation will prevent several hundred tonnes of NOx being emitted to the atmosphere over their lifetime.
The stringent Euro 6 standard for car emissions – including a new requirement for NOx aftertreatment – is challenging designers to develop new technologies. By working with customers on new applications well ahead of the legislation, Johnson Matthey gains valuable knowledge and remains a front runner in innovative environmental technologies.
