Nanostellar Finds Golden Solution

Nanostellar, Inc., a manufacturer of nano-engineered catalyst materials, today announced a first in diesel emissions technology: the introduction of gold as an oxidation catalyst. Nanostellar’s NS Gold catalyst enables manufacturers of light and heavy-duty diesel engines to reduce noxious emissions by as much as 40 percent more than existing pure-platinum catalysts at equal cost.
Nanostellar introduced its first-generation product, based on a platinum and palladium alloy, in mid-2006, and it achieved 25%-30% higher performance than commercial pure-platinum catalysts.
NS Gold, Nanostellar’s second-generation product, delivers a further 15%-20% performance increase.
Platinum is the most expensive component of the diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) that are required to meet the new, stringent emission regulations for the 14 million light-duty and 2 million heavy-duty diesel vehicles produced annually worldwide.
In recent years, Nanostellar and other producers of catalyst materials have introduced the use of palladium to partially replace the four-times more expensive platinum.
Now, to further reduce the amount of platinum needed and the overall cost of the catalysts, Nanostellar has pioneered the use of gold — which is currently about half the price of platinum — for diesel emission control.
Independent testing of Nanostellar’s NS Gold in comparison with today’s pure-platinum catalysts, has shown that NS Gold increases hydrocarbon oxidation activity by as much as 40 percent at equal precious-metal cost.
When compared to emerging platinum-palladium catalysts, this new solution promises to increase hydrocarbon oxidation activity by 15-20 percent at equal precious-metal cost.
A tri-metal formulation of gold, platinum, and palladium, allows the proportions of each metal to be adjusted to help catalyst systems engineers meet engine-specific performance targets and stabilize the overall cost of diesel catalysts, despite fluctuations in the price of precious metals.
“Not only does NS Gold break performance barriers imposed by mixed platinum and palladium catalysts, but also its performance can be more easily tuned to the characteristics of a variety of diesel engines,” said Pankaj Dhingra, CEO of Nanostellar.
Nanostellar, Inc. provides diesel automotive and stationary power industries with nano-engineered catalyst materials that reduce exhaust emissions and increase the effectiveness of precious metals in catalysts.