AUSTRALIAN engineers have invented a device that blasts the noxious gases in
car exhausts with microwaves, eliminating up to 70 per cent of harmful
emissions. Better still, the process can double as a source of industrial-grade
diamond.
Their device, called a microwave emissions converter, is about the size of a
wine bottle. It microwaves the exhaust gas, heating its core to as much as 5000
kelvin, more than three times the melting point of steel. At this temperature,
molecular bonds in the gases break, creating a plasma of free ions.
As the mix cools, the ions recombine to form less…
