Every single business day, I get dragged into the catalyst discussion. If it’s not from a client who is vehemently clamouring that the potential purchase must possess one, it is from an “engineer” who has refused to be called mechanic, and who does not seem to understand the basic function of what he chose to defend with his life as a fuel saver.
This discussion, as I see it is, is gradually becoming a vortex, and I refuse to be sucked into it. But, for the sake of knowledge, I’ll indulge us once again.
I’ve heard people say it’s all theory to claim catalyst is not responsible for the fuel saving functionality of a car, if at all there’s such a thing as fuel saving. Lol. Yes. They say it’s theory, thus, they’ll never get the thought out of their minds or let go off the belief.
So what is a catalyst?
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. And this is according to Oxford dictionary.
The question now is, what chemical reaction in the vehicle is this substance catalysing?
Before I proceed, many times, people have likened the water vapour or steam from exhausts as a sign that the engine is Uber healthy, when Infact, the presence of vapour or steam and carbondioxide from the exhaust is an indication of a successful chemical reaction facilitated by the catalytic metals in the catalyst chamber. It has no bearing , to a large extent, on engine health. But that’s story for another day.
In one of my posts on this subject, I explained a popular phenomenon in chemistry called REDOX reaction. While some catalysts work as reduction catalysts, there are Oxidation catalysts.
Reduction catalysts basically reduce NO2- Nitrogen Oxide by breaking up the compound to just Nitrogen and oxygen , which are harmless gases as separate entities. Oxidation catalysts does the opposite of adding Oxygen to CO- Carbonmonoxide, a very harmful gas , to form Carbondioxide (co2), a more environmentally acceptable gas.
Now, inside the catalyst is an oxygen sensor. It does the work of sensing how much oxygen is found in the exhausts gases so as to relay back to the brainbox , in a reactionary Comms manner, to say, Baba, plenty oxygen dey come for this exhaust oh, try to increase the air to fuel ratio so as to save this fuel. This is entirely the work of the O2 sensor. It senses oxygen, send a message back to the ECU to either include more oxygen in the combustion chamber so as to reduce the fuel that is burned as a result. It sounds that easy because it is.
So instead of bickering over the absence of a cat concerter, which Infact is good because it helps reduce environmental pollution, if fuel economy is your Endgame, then the O2 sensors are the culprits you should be wary of.
That being said, today is yet another day to remind car users in Nigeria and the world over that Catalyst no be wetin de save fuel for your car.
This craze for catalytic converter is the reason it’s being stolen with a craze. It’s funny, those who I believe started stealing this thing, did it with the intention of accessing the rare metals like Cadmium, Titanium, you know those metals from 21 to 30 on the periodic table especially, ehe. They use it for other purposes. But you, you don’t even have any need for it apart from stealing it from Ogechi and selling it to Maverick. I mean to what end.
So you keep propagating the falsehood because you don’t want to go out of business.
Anyway. I believe any ody who wants to learn will learn.
Ogechi Okere is a car dealer
