A U.S. technology company with backing from OEMs General Motors and Volvo Group gains its first customer for an innovative catalytic-converter ingredient, a breakthrough that could help automakers clean up tailpipe emissions and save car buyers money.
SDCmaterials, a 12-year-old Tempe, AZ-based company, will supply its catalytic formulation to Car Sound, a manufacturer of catalysts and catalytic converters for the aftermarket. SDC has its eye on supplying it directly to OEMs in the near future.
Called Nano-on-Nano, SDC says the technology could slash as much as $60 from the $100 in precious metals a catalyst typically requires to convert toxic tailpipe emissions into compounds that occur naturally in the atmosphere.
If applied to the 17 million light vehicles sold in the U.S. last year, Nano-on-Nano would have saved up to $1 billion, the company estimates.
“This is an important milestone for SDC as a company,” says Executive Chairman William Staron. “It commercially validates our technology and opens an array of new options for catalyst manufactures to effectively balance emissions regulations, engine performance and exhaust-system costs.”
The automotive catalytic converter was first developed by General Motors and the supplier BASF/Engelhard and deployed in 1975. The emissions-control device slashed output of unburned hydrocarbons to meet newly enacted federal emissions laws of the day. But today, global automakers continue to use upwards of 11 million oz. (312 million g) annually of precious metals, such as platinum, to keep emissions clean and meet ever-tightening regulations.
SDC’s technology integrates nano-sized precious-metal particles onto nano-oxide support particles, which results in the use of 40% to 60% fewer precious metals and reduces their degradation over time. The technology also can increase catalyst performance without additional precious metals.
Car Sound executive Peter Nitoglia calls Nano-on-Nano the greatest shift in the chemical composition of the basic automotive catalyst in 40 years.
The innovation could allow automakers to meet the stricter emissions regulations of the future without passing on big price increases to car buyers.
“We see (SDC) technology as providing a significant savings for customers when applied in broader use,” says Jon Lauckner, chief technical officer and president of GM Ventures. GM Ventures is the capital-investment arm of the automaker and a key investor in SDC.
Volvo Technology Transfer, the venture-capital arm of global heavy-duty truck and diesel-engine manufacturer Volvo Group, also has a 6-year-old stake in SDC. SAIC Technology Fund, an investment arm of Chinese automaker SAIC, invested in SDC last year.
