Computational Fluid Analysis on Catalytic Converter with More Surface Area Monolithic Structure

Abstract

Catalytic converters are used to convert toxic gases into less toxic residues. Monolithic honeycomb structure coated with Noble metals as catalysts are used for this purpose.  Noble metals cause a redox reaction and put a check on the emission of toxic elements. Thus, increases in contact time with noble metals, lesser the emission. Hence the larger surface area is preferred in the monolithic structure of catalytic converter for coating Noble metals. This paper does a comparative study over a new monolithic structural design in place of the conventional honeycomb structure of the same dimensions with least weight and more contact area. Conventional used structure and proposed monolithic structure designs were simulated in ANSYS fluent software and the results are compared. The proposed design resulted in 9.23% increase of contact surface area and weight reduction of 64.18%. Exhaust flow analysis in terms of back pressure and exhaust temperature for the proposed structure are almost equivalent to the earlier design.