Mazda keeps it clean

Put on your science hats because Mazda has gone to the tiniest detail to make the new Mazda3 as clean and green as it can be.

The new model, due on sale this year, will become the first car maker to use single-nanocatalyst technology in its catalytic converter. In simple terms the system is designed to cut down on the amount of precious metal used by the converter while at the same time making it work more efficiently.

Without getting bogged down in the particulars, Mazda describes the technology as "the single-nanocatalyst involves using single-nanotechnology to control material structures on an even smaller scale than nanotechnology". Or to put it another way: very, very, tiny metal particles.

Current catalytic converters use a base ceramic material that is covered by tiny metal particles roughly 10nm (nano micron) in size. When heated these particles agglomerate into clusters and become less effective requiring more precious metal to be used.

Mazda's new system uses metal particles less than 5nm in size that are able to stay separate and therefore remain more effective despite the heat caused by the exhaust gases. That means the catalytic converter in the new Mazda3 uses 70 per cent less precious metals that the outgoing model -- 0.15g/L compared to 0.55g/L.

This helps the car remain under Japanese government emissions regulations to qualify as a Super Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle.

Mazda has vowed to roll the single-nanocatalyst technology out in all of its models in the coming years, in a bid to reduce emissions and precious metals usage.