As of 2020, twenty-one of the world’s 30 cities with the worst levels of air pollution are in India, with six cities in the top 10. Air pollution is a giant & silent killer. Breathing polluted air increases the risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, chronic bronchitis etc. Air pollution is the world’s fourth-leading fatal health risk, causing one in ten deaths in 2013. About 87% of the world’s population live in countries in which ambient pollution levels exceed air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization. In India the cost of air pollution is estimated to be Rs 3.39 lakh per second. Tackling Particulate Matter pollution requires technologies and solutions which are scalable, commercially, economically viable and sustainable.
ABCDE Innovation Centre at SASTRA Deemed University (SASTRA) & Umeandus Technologies India Private Limited (UTIPL) joined hands in 2020 to set up a Centre of Excellence (COE) at Thanjavur to develop an Ambient Air Purification System (APS) with the objective to improve Outdoor Air Quality using a filter-less & sustainable technology, which can be deployed with minimum constrains and dependencies. The focus is to remove Particulate Matter from ambient air in efficient manner to improve air quality & minimize exposure.
The unique design provides flexibility, scalability and capability to adapt to the ambient air quality variations without affecting efficiency and maintains steady performance over long time.
The innovation enables APS to be modular for efficient exposure reduction as well as scalable for large volumes and coverage. Modularity and autonomy help APS to enable decentralized deployment which is easier and faster to deploy compared to ground-based large structures which face challenges of availability of space, safety, security and aesthetics.
Research, Simulation & trials at COE, Thanjavur & by UTIPL in Gurgaon established that the APS can remove more than 75% of the harmful Particulate Matter. SASTRA and UTIPL are working to conduct large scale trials at pollution hotspots, exposure reduction etc. The technology will provide relief in better compliances and exposure reduction related to Diesel Generators, hotspots, crowded market places, railway & bus stations, semi-enclosed spaces like underground metro stations etc.
