Platinum emission rate of automobiles with catalytic converters

Inconsistent data presently available on the platinum emission rate of cars in Germany equipped with catalytic converters are evaluated. Automobile sources of Pt other than autocatalysts are quantified and found to be 1–6 orders of magnitudes lower than the Pt emissions attributed to catalytic converters. A transfer of emission rates derived from test stand experiments to more realistic street conditions reaches 0.8 μg Pt/km. In this manner, data from test stand experiments and from environmental investigations meet in the range of 0.5–0.8 μg Pt/km.