OREANDA-NEWS. May 18, 2012. Ten researchers from Mazda Motor Corporation will be honored for their achievements at the 62nd annual Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (JSAE) awards presentation. Two groups of Mazda researchers will receive the Technological Development Award for two separate achievements. JSAE awards the prestigious Technological Development Award to individual researchers and their co-researchers in recognition of outstanding new products or technologies that contribute to the development of automotive engineering.


The Technological Development AwardAwarded for:   Development of PGM Single Nano Size Particle Catalyst with high thermal durability and low-temperature catalytic performance which is possible to reduce the use of rare resources.

Recipients: Hideharu Iwakuni, Technical Research Center, Mazda Motor Corporation
 Masaaki Akamine, Technical Research Center, Mazda Motor Corporation
 Hirosuke Sumida, Technical Research Center, Mazda Motor Corporation
 Masahiko Shigetsu, Technical Research Center, Mazda Motor Corporation
 Akihide Takami, Technical Research Center, Mazda Motor Corporation

The award recognizes improvements to Mazda's single-nanocatalyst technology*1 including enhanced thermal durability and low temperature performance. These improvements have enabled the technology, which was previously employed only in the underfloor catalytic convertor, to be used in the convertor attached directly to the engine. It also achieves a 30 - 50% reduction in the use of rare platinum group metals (PGM). The reward also recognizes the application of the same technology to the diesel particulate filter (DPF) for Mazda's new-generation SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine.

 
*1: This unique Mazda technology avoids the decline in performance associated with the sintering of precious metal particulates by embedding particles less than five nanometers in length (single nano sized) into a specially developed base material. (1nm=0.000001mm).