Johnson Matthey CRT(TM) Particulate Filter Wins Britain's Most Prestigious Engineering Award for Its Role in Cleaning Up Diesel Engine Emissions -- The MacRobert Award

1 November 2000
Johnson Matthey CRT(TM) Particulate Filter Wins Britain's Most Prestigious Engineering Award for Its Role in Cleaning Up Diesel Engine Emissions -- The MacRobert Award
    WAYNE, Pa., Nov. 1 Johnson Matthey announced today that it
has been awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award for the
development and commercialization of its CRT(TM) particulate filter for
heavy-duty diesel engines.
    The Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award, comparable in stature to
awards from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of
Science here in the United States, recognizes scientific and engineering
innovation that has been successfully commercialized and brings a significant
benefit to society.  Instituted in 1968, the MacRobert Award has honored
individuals or small teams of individuals for outstanding engineering
innovation and societal benefit.
    With over 13,000 CRT particulate filters in service in Europe, the United
States and the Far East, all reducing diesel engine emissions by more than
85%, the CRT particulate filter more than meets the MacRobert Award criteria.
And most recently, the CRT particulate filter has played a significant role in
influencing both the California Air Resources Board and MTA New York City
Transit to pursue the path of "clean diesel" through the use of ultra low
sulfur diesel fuel in combination with particulate filters.
    The CRT particulate filter team, Dr. Barry Cooper, Dr. Pelham Hawker, Jim
Thoss and Par Jones, will receive the MacRobert Award on November 30, 2000 at
Buckingham Palace.  HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh will present the
award.
    Johnson Matthey had previously won the Award in 1980 for the development
of the three-way catalyst.  Dr. Barry Cooper was also a member of that team
and becomes the first individual to win the Award twice in the 31-year history
of the MacRobert Award.
    "Winning the MacRobert Award for the second time is a tremendous honor,"
says Dr. Barry Cooper.  "What is more important though, is the recognition
that the CRT particulate filter in combination with ultra low sulfur fuel
truly reduces diesel engine emissions and allows all of the benefits of diesel
power with almost none of the pollution."
    The CRT particulate filter is a patented emission control technology that
contains a platinum-coated catalyst and a particulate filter, engineered as a
totally passive emission control system.  The CRT particulate filter removes
more than 85 percent of the particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO) and
hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from diesel exhaust.
    Mounted in the vehicle's exhaust system in the same location as the
muffler or catalytic converter, the CRT particulate filter is made up of two
chambers.
    The first chamber contains a substrate coated with a proprietary, highly
active Pt oxidation catalyst which is designed to oxidize a portion of the NO
in the exhaust to NO2, which is the key to the elimination of soot collected
by the CRT filter.  This is the basis of the JM patent.  The catalyst also
converts CO and HC into CO2 and H2O.
    In the second chamber, the exhaust flows through a particulate filter,
where gaseous components pass through but soot is trapped on the walls of the
filter, where it is destroyed by the NO2 produced by the catalyst in the first
chamber.
    Unlike conventional exhaust filter systems, the CRT particulate filter
will not clog through the accumulation of soot because the CRT particulate
filter provides continuous cleaning (regeneration) of the filter.  Also, the
CRT particulate filter can regenerate with temperatures as low as 250 degrees
Celsius, much cooler than the 600 degrees Celsius usually required for soot to
burn.
    Traded on the London Stock Exchange, Johnson Matthey is a highly
diversified global technology firm.  The $6 billion company is 180 years old.
Johnson Matthey's Catalytic Systems Division, the world's largest supplier of
catalysts for the automobile industry, provides catalytic solutions for air
quality problems created by mobile and stationary sources.
    For more information, contact Marty Lassen, Johnson Matthey Catalytic
Systems Division, 434 Devon Park Drive, Wayne, PA 19087-1889; Tel:
610-341-3404; Fax: 610-971-3116; or call the Johnson Matthey Toll-Free
Emissions Hotline: 1-800 RX FOR AIR; E-mail: lassem@jmusa.com; Website:
http://www.jmcsd.com.