An Initiative for Cleaner Air from Volvo
3 June 1998
An Initiative for Cleaner Air from Volvo Volvo Car Corporation Converts Its Car Radiators Into Catalytic
Converters.
By Covering The Surface of the Radiator with a Catalytic Coating, It Helps To
Remove Dangerous, Smog-Forming Ozone from Air Flowing Through the Radiator.
GOTEBORG, Sweden, June 2 -- Beginning early 1999, Volvo Car
Corporation will fit its newest car, the Volvo S80 with specially treated
radiators that actually help reduce the ozone content of the air that passes
through them. Volvo is the first automaker in the world to commercialize this
technology which has been developed and tested together with US-based
Engelhard Corporation.
A high ozone content in urban air is not only a health hazard to people
-- especially children -- but also to vegetation. Low-level ozone, the
principal component of smog, is formed when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons
from traffic and other sources are exposed to sunlight. The ozone problem is
greatest in the summer and, in particular, in most of the world's metropolitan
areas.
The Volvo S80 will include radiators treated with Engelhard's proprietary
PremAir(R) catalyst system. Tests show that as much as 75 percent of the ozone
that flows through these radiators is converted to oxygen.
The purification effect on hot days and when the air has a high ozone
content will partially offset the level of ozone production from the exhaust
of a modern car equipped with a catalytic converter.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), one of the world's leading
proponents of clean-air initiatives, supports the initiative. John D. Dunlap
III, Chairman of CARB, says: "by voluntarily installing the catalyst on
vehicles to be sold in California before CARB makes regulatory determination,
Volvo is demonstrating its leadership and intent in advancing pollution
control technology."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agrees with Volvo's
decision to include the technology on its new vehicle. In a letter to Volvo,
Margo T. Oge, director of EPA's Office of Mobile Sources, writes: "The
Environmental Protection Agency recognizes the clean air leadership that Volvo
and Engelhard are demonstrating by being first to commercialize a direct ozone
destruction catalyst on motor vehicles."
Hans Gustavsson, Senior Vice President of Volvo Car Corporation, says
"Starting in the Spring of 1999, we will gradually equip our new models with
this new environmental technology. It gives a good environmental effect where
it is really needed at a reasonable cost." "We hope that other car
manufacturers will follow our example. The car industry is currently
developing cars with ever more effective exhaust emission control. Ozone-
reducing radiators on all new cars in the future will help make urban air even
cleaner."
More information about PremAir(R), including illustrations, will be
available on the Internet, http://www.car.volvo.se/environment/index.html.
This isn't the first time Volvo and Engelhard have teamed up to
introduce new clean-air technology. In 1976, the two companies commercialized
the world's first three-way catalytic converter in 1976, which revolutionized
auto-emission control. Around the world, about 80 percent of cars on the road
today are equipped with a modern catalytic converter.
