09-09-2006, 09:57 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Varies
Posts: 4,802
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Honda diesel patent and import for 2008 or 2009?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aGUDxfTgbHY4&refer=j
Quote:
Honda introduced its first diesel engine, a 2.2-liter, four-cylinder model, in Europe two years ago.
For the four- and six-cylinder clean diesels it plans for the U.S., Honda first sends exhaust through a plasma reactor, or a gaseous layer of electrically charged atoms, according to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site. That isolates harmful nitrous oxide and forms nitrogen dioxide, which is reduced or absorbed by alkali metals and silver.
GM has tested plasma reactors and hasn't concluded they're the best for cutting nitrous oxide, Stephens says.
DaimlerChrysler AG prefers to squirt urea, or liquefied ammonia, into the exhaust. The Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker plans such a system on its Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan in a few years, says Simon Godwin, manager of regulatory affairs in Washington. A urea tank and controls may cost as much as a gas-electric hybrid system, or $2,000, says George Peterson, president of consulting firm AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California. Drivers must refill the tank as often as they change their oil, Godwin says.
`Tour de Force'
Fukui says his catalyzer is simpler and will make Honda the first company to meet 2009 emission standards.
``If they can get it out there, it's an engineering tour de force,'' says Robert Weber, who analyzes exhaust systems at TIAX LLC, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm.
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