NJIT Mourns the Loss of Alumnus John J. Mooney, a Giant in the Fight Against Air Pollution

The New Jersey Institute of Technology community notes with great sadness the passing of John J. Mooney MS ’60, an inspired engineer, renowned inventor and beloved alumnus of Newark College of Engineering who is best known for developing a catalytic converter for vehicles that filters three toxic chemicals.

In devising a so-called “three-way” scrubber, Mooney and Carl D. Keith, his research partner at Engelhard Corporation (now part of BASF), were responding to new air quality standards established by the 1970 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act. Their device improved upon the original catalytic converter by filtering exhaust pipe emissions of nitrogen oxides, in addition to hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.

When he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2002, Mooney’s invention was lauded for sparing the environment billions of tons of automobile exhaust pollutants since its introduction in the mid-1970s, while saving lives.

“The device has made an incredible impact in curbing smog and eliminating some of the most damaging side effects of the internal combustion engine on the environment and on human life,” the National Science and Technology Medals Foundation, which administers the awards, noted of his and Keith’s achievement.

Remarking this week on his passing, NJIT President Joel Bloom called Mooney “a brilliant engineer, a trailblazing inventor and an esteemed mentor to many.”

“In his lifelong commitment to putting science to work for the common good, John embodied all that NJIT seeks to inspire in our students,” Bloom said. “It has been our honor and privilege to count him among our alumni.”

During his 43 years at Engelhard Corporation, Mooney also developed a process for the U.S. Air Force that used a ruthenium catalyst to produce hydrogen from liquid ammonia. The catalytic system made it easier for the Air Force to supply hydrogen for weather balloons, since it was more efficient to ship liquid ammonia to distant locations than cylinders of gas.

He went on to secure 17 patents, while continuing to expand the potential of catalytic technology for reducing emissions, including for small two-stroke engines, the type that power chainsaws and leaf blowers and are considered among the worst of internal combustion polluters.

In addition to the National Medal Technology and Innovation, Mooney also received the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 1999 Arthur Dehon Little Award for Innovation, the Finnish Academies of Technology’s 2001 Walter Ahlstrom Prize and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2005 Kazutoshi Fujimura Life Time Achievement in International Chemical Engineering Award.

Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Mooney went to work for PSE&G immediately after high school.

“I was basically a clerk, but I was also encouraged by some of my coworkers to ‘do something with my life,’” he recalled in a wide-ranging interview about his legacy. He first earned a degree in chemistry at Seton Hall University before deciding to add chemical engineering to his toolkit at NJIT.

“Although I liked my chemistry courses well enough, I’ve always had a practical bent,” he recounted. “I like to make things happen, and that’s what engineers do — they take the basic science and make things happen.”