Ceramic honeycomb structural body and catalyst comprising the same

A ceramic honeycomb catalyst comprising a catalyst carrier formed of a ceramic honeycomb structural body, and a catalytic substance carried by said honeycomb structural body, said honeycomb structural body comprising:

• an outer peripheral wall of a thickness of at least 0.1 mm;
• a plurality of partition walls arranged inside of the peripheral wall and each having a thickness, t, ranging from 0.050 mm to 0.150 mm;
• and
• a plurality of flow channels defined by said peripheral wall and said partition walls, and arranged adjacent to each other with said partition walls between neighboring flow passages, said flow passages having a polygonal cell cross-section and extending longitudinally through said honeycomb structural body;
• wherein said honeycomb structural body comprises (i) a ceramic material having a true specific gravity and a porosity;
• (ii) satisfies at least one of the following formulae (1) and (2):
• 0.65.ltoreq.OFA.ltoreq.-0.58.times.t+0.98 (1)
• k.times.{1-(-0.58.times.t+0.98)}.ltoreq.G.ltoreq.k.times.0.35(2)
• wherein OFA and G are an open frontal area and a bulk density of the honeycomb structural body, respectively, said open frontal area being equal to the open frontal area of the flow channels divided by the frontal area of the honeycomb structural body, and k is a factor representing said true specific gravity multiplied by (1-porosity);
• and (iii) has an A-axis compressive strength of no less than 50 kgf/cm.sup.2 and a B-axis compressive strength of no less than 5 kgf/cm.sup.2 ;
• and said catalyst has a heat capacity of no more than 450 kJ/K per 1 m.sup.3 of the catalyst.