Corning® FLORA® substrates eliminate harmful emissions when they’re highest – moments after starting the engine
In the time it takes you to turn on your ignition on a cold winter’s day, buckle your seatbelt, adjust your mirrors, and ease out of your parking spot, your car has probably emitted more harmful gases into the air than it would during 200 miles of highway driving.
It’s not your fault. It’s standard operating procedure for most vehicles on the road today.
But aren’t vehicles much cleaner than they used to be?
The answer, in part, is yes. Once an engine heats up, components like Corning’s clean-air substrates dramatically improve air quality coming out of vehicle tailpipes.
But cold-start emissions – the dangerous gases produced during the first 60 seconds or so after ignition – continue to represent the most toxic segment of the engine operating cycle. In fact, more than 70 percent of all the harmful gas emissions from a single average drive come during this cold-start immediately after start-up.
That’s because catalysts typically don’t reach full efficiency until the engine exhaust gas heats the catalyst up to the temperature at which catalytic reactions are initiated within a catalytic converter. So as regulators and citizens around the world continue their expectations for more vehicular emissions reduction, Corning innovators have intensified their focus on this critical first-minute window.