Anti-smog discovery

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 16

Anti-smog discovery

NZPA California A method of eliminating nitrogen oxides from exhaust gases, a big cause of smog and acid rain, has been announced by a group of United States' scientists.

Scientists at the national Combustion Research Facility said that the discovery — using a non-toxic chemical widely used in treating swimming pool water — has the potential for controlling nitrogen oxide emissions from most combustion devices.

The process was discovered by Robert Perry, a chemist for Sandia National Laboratories which runs the Livermore facility in California for the United States Department of Energy. Mr Perry said the process involved inserting a non-toxic chemical, cyanuric acid, into a

stream of exhaust. The result is a mixture of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water which the scientists consider less harmful to the environment. The Livermore researchers said the laboratory tests demonstrated that the process could remove more than 99 per cent of the nitrogen oxides in exhausts from a small diesel engine. Dan Hartley, former director of the Combustion Research Facility, who now heads the Sandia National Laboratories’ energy programmes, said the process had potential applications for both diesel engines and coalburning power plants. The discovery was reported in the December 18 issue of the' journal, “Nature,” by Mr Perry and another Sandia scientist, Dennis Siebers.