Fossil fuel vehicles emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that will create air pollution and climate change. Catalytic converters are exhaust emission control device that largely prevents these gases released into the atmosphere. Platinum group metals that are inside the catalytic converters convert carbon monoxide gas (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) to the less harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor. This process takes place in the honeycomb part of the catalytic converters. Over time this honeycomb part disintegrates and pieces of it break off. This causes the valuable part to get blown into the muffler and go out through the exhaust pipe. These disintegrate start after about 10 years or 160,000 km and cause clog in the catalytic converter. The lifespan of catalytic converters may vary depending on the model used and the way of use.
When catalytic converters expire, these symptoms may appear in the vehicle: a warning light appears on the vehicle’s dashboard, increased fuel consumption, reduced engine performance, and dark exhaust smoke coming from the tailpipes accompanied by a smell of sulfur. As can be seen, these symptoms cause great damage to both the car and the environment. To prevent this, the catalytic converter must be renewed. You may have heard that cleaning catalytic converters instead of replacing them has the same effect, but that doesn’t reflect the truth. Cleaning processes are not as efficient and safe as one might think. First of all, it should be known that this difficult process is not recommended by professional mechanics or a vehicle manufacturer, and if it is done the vehicle may be out of warranty. Because cleaning a catalytic converter can damage the internal catalyst and render this mandated system useless. In addition, there are cases of theft in this cleaning process. Some people are removing the honeycomb part in the catalytic converters during the cleaning process. In this honeycomb part, there are platinum group metals suitable for recycling such as platinum palladium rhodium, which has economic value. This removed honeycomb part may be unfairly sold. It is very difficult to notice this because even if some symptoms in the car decrease, the catalytic converter becomes unable to convert toxic gases which is the main task of it. In order to avoid all these, it is recommended to replace the expired catalytic converters with a new one instead of cleaning them.
As Proses Makina Company with our years of experience and r&d on catalytic converter recycling, we provide to our customers turnkey facilities. Our goal is to establish the most efficient catalytic converter recycling systems with high technology equipment.
