Johnson Matthey and Imperial College, London have developed a new exhaust gas particulate control system.

The device is said to remove tiny particles of carbon which normally escape from automotive exhausts, including cars, vans, trucks and buses, even when they are fitted with advanced catalytic converters.

The device, which is named GASPART, is used in conjunction with catalytic converters to achieve maximum results in emissions reduction.

The exhaust system uses an electrically charged wire to attract carbon particles which the standard catalytic converter can then destroy.

At present the technology is at a prototype stage, but Johnson Matthey says testing has so far yielded encouraging results.

The technology has been developed as part of the Government-backed Foresight Vehicle Initiative, which is the UK's prime knowledge transfer network for the automotive industry.

The Transport Panel and the DTI helped set up the scheme in an effort to develop a programme designed to exploit technology "to stimulate the UK automotive supplier base to develop products and systems which satisfy increasingly stringent environmental requirements while meeting mass expectations for safety, performance, cost and desirability".