14 DAY TRIAL // A few decades back, environmental regulations went ballistic on automobiles, making it mandatory for all of them to have some sort of filter that would reduce air pollution. Lawnmowers haven't been following the same rules, however, and a Californian student team has decided to do something about that.
The students didn't manage to get a new set of rules applied by the US Environmental Protection Agency or anything else like that. However, they did create a device that can reduce the pollution caused by gas-powered lawnmowers by 90%.
You might think that lawnmowers aren't a big enough deal to worry about, but the US Environmental Protection Agency begs to differ. According to their reckoning, using a lawnmower for one hour pollutes the air as badly as 11 regular cars put together.
The new device that will mitigate this environmental impact is called UCR NOx-Out. The students from the University of California gave it the form of an L-shaped pipe and made it out of stainless steel. You are supposed to install it instead of the engine muffler.
Truth be told, NOx-Out was created by a different team of students back in 2013, but a new group developed it further this year, and yet another team will likely improve it later.
Dr. Kawai Tam, Prof. David Cocker, and Assistant Professor Phillip Christopher have been the only constant, having advised everyone who worked on the item so far.
NOx-Out uses a stainless steel filter to keep back most of the particles in the smoke, then a spray of urea is released into the exhaust stream. The urea reacts with a copper zeolite catalyst and converts the nitrogen oxide and ammonia about to be expelled into nitrogen gas and water, which are harmless.
The particulate matter that is held back from spreading into the air is reduced by 93%, a big jump from the initial 44% last year. Meanwhile, carbon monoxide emissions are cut by 87% and nitrogen oxides by 67%.
The steel filter should last for a pretty long time, compared to the quartz-based one that was initially used in the NOx-Out's creation. In the near future, lawnmowers used to maintain campus grounds will be used as a trial run for the add-on, after which the design team, or whoever will replace the current students, will be trying to make the add-on look less obtrusive, perhaps from a single piece.
The retail price will be of around $30/€22. A noise-reducing muffler will be added to the final iteration.
