The present invention relates to a catalyst comprising a carrier substrate of the length L, which extends between a first end face ‘a’ and a second end face ‘b’, and differently composed material zones A and B arranged on the carrier substrate, wherein material zone A comprises platinum and no palladium or platinum and palladium with a weight ratio of Pt:Pd of ≥1 and, material zone B comprises a copper containing zeolite having a Cu/Al ratio of 0.355 or higher.

Methods for exhaust gas purification, including the steps of: attaching an exhaust gas purification catalyst to an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine, and supplying an exhaust gas to the exhaust gas purification catalyst, where the exhaust gas purification catalyst includes an upper layer containing first carrier particles which are particles of an inorganic oxide and rhodium, and a lower layer containing second carrier particles which are particles of an inorganic oxide, the upper layer includes a rhodium-rich portion near the surface of the upper layer on the upstream side of the exhaust gas flow, and the existence range of the rhodium-rich portion is in a range of greater than 50% to 80% of the length of the upper layer from a downstream side end of an exhaust gas flow and of less than 20 μm in the depth direction from an outermost surface of the upper layer.

An exhaust gas control system according to the present disclosure includes: a first exhaust gas control catalyst layer that controls an exhaust gas emitted from an internal combustion engine; and a second exhaust gas control catalyst layer that further controls the exhaust gas that has been controlled by the first exhaust gas control catalyst layer. The second exhaust gas control catalyst layer contains an oxygen storage material. The ratio of the amount (mmol—CO.sub.2/m.sup.2) of base points per specific surface area (m.sup.2/g) of the oxygen storage material to the specific surface area is equal to or less than 4.50×10.sup.−5.

In an exhaust gas purification catalyst, a catalytic component (100) containing a first oxide (21), a second oxide (22), and a precious metal (30) is supported on a three-dimensional structure (10); the ratio of the amount of precious metal (30) supported on the first oxide (21) to the total amount of precious metal (30) supported on the first oxide (21) and precious metal (30) supported on the second oxide (22), or the ratio of the amount of precious metal (30) supported on the second oxide (22) to the total amount of precious metal (30) supported on the first oxide (21) and precious metal (30) supported on the second oxide (22) is 70% or more to 100% or less, as measured by an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA); and the amount of carbon monoxide that the precious metal (30) can adsorb per unit mass is 15 mL/g or more to 100 mL/g or less.

A passive NOx absorber for treating an exhaust gas from a diesel engine is described. The passive NOx absorber comprises a first washcoat region comprising a zeolite catalyst, the zeolite catalyst comprising a noble metal and a zeolite having a SAR of 2-15.

An automotive exhaust system includes an exhaust pipe and a catalytic converter. The catalytic converter includes a catalyst in fluid communication with the exhaust pipe, and an electric heater between the exhaust pipe and the catalyst. The electric heater includes a cellular structure that defines a plurality of smaller and larger cells. The smaller cells occupy a contiguous half of the cellular structure.

A catalytic converter system having oxygen storage materials is disclosed and methods for determining whether to reactivate oxygen storage materials and monitoring failure events of the oxygen storage materials are also disclosed.

In accordance with the technology herein disclosed, an exhaust gas purification catalyst exhibiting a high exhaust gas purifying performance using a new rare earth-containing material is provided. The exhaust gas purification catalyst herein disclosed includes a base material and a catalyst layer formed on the surface of the base material. The catalyst layer of such an exhaust gas purification catalyst includes rare earth-carrying alumina 50 including a primary particle of a rare earth particle 40 including at least one rare earth element carried on the surface of an alumina carrier 30 including alumina, and the average particle diameter D.sub.50 based on TEM observation of the rare earth particle 40 in the rare earth-carrying alumina 50 is 10 nm or less. As a result of this, it is possible to provide an exhaust gas purification catalyst having high NOx adsorption performance and CO adsorption performance

A heater element with a functional material-containing layer includes: a honeycomb structure including an outer peripheral wall and partition walls disposed on an inner side of the outer peripheral wall, the partition walls defining a plurality of cells, each of the cells extending from a first end face to a second end face to form a flow path, at least the partition walls being made of a material having a PTC property; a pair of electrodes provided on the first end face and the second end face of the honeycomb structure; and a functional material-containing layer provided on a surface of the partition walls.

An improved apparatus for the separation of gas or gas-vapor, as well as simultaneous product transformation or conversion of one or more of the separated gas or gas-vapor species, includes modification of a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube to include an electric field internal to the vortex tube, created either by an applied potential or induced by temperature-dependent triboelectric effects, or a combination of both. The electric field is used to enhance separation of gaseous components, with particular emphasis on separation of CO.sub.2 from a gaseous mixture, and to promote subsequent conversion of the resulting separated gaseous product or products.