An international research team from Leuven (Belgium) and Utrecht University (the Netherlands) has developed a new production method that allows to obtain a more environmentally friendly diesel fuel. Scientists say the technology can be easily scaled to industrial volumes in the next decade.
For the production of the fuel used the catalysts. They speed up chemical reactions, transforming raw materials into useful products. In the process of production of the fuel molecules interact with the catalytic materials.
The new approach consists of a non-standard location of catalytic materials, in this case platinum and solid acids. Usually, the catalysts are placed as close as possible to each other, easily navigated source of substances between them.
The researchers found that if you position the components at a distance of several nanometers from each other, the reaction will be a much more environmentally friendly fuel. To verify the plausibility of their findings, the researchers triple-checked the result.
We repeated the experiment three times to come to a common conclusion: the modern theory is incorrect. The distance between the functions inside the catalyst should be minimal. This is contrary to what the industry the last half-century, said scientists.
According to the researchers, this discovery may have major consequences. Cars that run on cleaner diesel engine will emit much less harmful substances. The study results were published in the journal Nature.
It is hoped that a new way of producing clean fuel will be introduced earlier than scientists say.