HRH Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh, will present the MacRobert Award,
at a ceremony to be held at Buckingham Palace on
30th November 2000. The Award will be received by
Chris Clark, Chief Executive of Johnson Matthey and
Dr Pelham Hawker, Dr Barry Cooper, Jim Thoss and
Pär Jones, the team who led the effort to develop
and commercialise the CRTT. The company first won
the Award in 1980 for its pioneering work in the
development and commercialisation of autocatalysts
for the control of emissions from petrol engines.
Dr Barry Cooper was also a member of the team in
1980 and is the first person in the award's 31-year
history to win it twice.
Diesel particulates
are known to aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular
health problems. The ultrafine carbon particles produced
by diesel engines appear to be particularly damaging
because they become lodged deep inside the lungs. "The
diesel engine is essential for transporting goods,
services and people but it has one major drawback
- it pollutes. Even the latest diesel engines still
emit smoke under certain operating conditions and
all diesel engines produce fine soot particles," says
Dr Barry Cooper, Vice President, Diesel Emission
Control Systems, Johnson Matthey. "A normal catalyst
cannot remove the particulates but the CRTT removes
more than 85 per cent of the soot, hydrocarbons and
carbon monoxide."
Last year alone Johnson
Matthey sold nearly 5,000 CRTT systems and is currently
selling more than 500 units a month. Many bus operators
in London and other major cities now fit the system
and tightening emissions standards around the world
will create an important new market for this technology
over the next five years.
While the CRTT design
concept was patented in 1989, it could not be commercialised
then because low-sulphur diesel, on which the CRTT runs,
was unavailable. The breakthrough did not come until
the early 1990s when Sweden introduced low-sulphur
fuel in response to environmental concerns. Pär Jones
led the team that devised the first commercial version
of the CRTT for sale in Scandinavia, which still
accounts for over one-third of the current market.
Germany and the UK introduced low-sulphur diesel
and started to levy lower taxes for cleaner fuel
in the late 1990s, opening up new markets for the
CRTT.
"All vehicle emissions
are improved by using low-sulphur fuel," says Dr
Pelham Hawker, Managing Director, Catalytic Systems
Division, Johnson Matthey. "The CRTT will help deliver
the full benefits of, and stimulate demand for, low-sulphur
diesel in the same way as our petrol engine catalysts
did for unleaded petrol."
Notes for Editors
About the CRTT
The CRTT works in
a two-stage process. First the exhaust gases pass
through a grid impregnated with platinum, which catalyses
the production of nitrogen dioxide from the nitrogen
monoxide and oxygen normally present in the exhaust
gas. The gases and the soot then go into the ceramic
trap, which retains the carbon particles while the
gases flow through the porous walls. The nitrogen
dioxide flow enables the carbon to burn away leaving
the filter clean. More
information on the CRTT.
About the MacRobert
Award
The Royal Academy
of Engineering MacRobert Award is Britain's premier
prize for engineering. It is given annually for outstanding
innovation of benefit to the community. First presented
in 1969, the award consists of a solid gold medal
and £50,000 prize.
1. HRH the Duke of
Edinburgh, Senior Fellow of the Academy, will present
the winning team with their medal and prize at a
special ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 30 November
2000.
2. The three other
finalists this year were BAE Systems in Edinburgh
for the CAPTOR radar for Eurofighter, Thermomax in
Newport for their solar water heating system, and
NXT plc in Huntingdon for the first flat panel loudspeaker.
3. The Royal Academy
of Engineering aims to pursue, encourage and maintain
excellence across the whole field of engineering
in order to promote the advancement of the science,
art and practice of engineering for the benefit of
the public. The Academy comprises the UK's most eminent
engineers and is able to use their combined wealth
of knowledge and experience to meet its objectives.
