Chandigarh gets country’s tallest air purifier

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 7

To mark the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, the tallest air purification tower of the country was inaugurated by UT Adviser Dharam Pal here today.

The Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) had taken an initiative to install the tower at Transport Chowk, Sector 26.

This is the highest air purifier of India, which will cover around a 500-metre radius around Transport Chowk. Polluted air enters the inner casing of the mist chamber, wherein a number of mist nozzles spray water in the form of mist on the polluted air. Heavy polluted air particles are drained into a drain tube, which collect in a water tank. Fitted with a system to suck polluted air through inlets, particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM 10, along with various oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, are filtered by the purifier and the purified air exhausted in the environment.

This purifier has been installed by Pious Air Pvt Limited without any cost to the UT Administration. It will also operate and maintain it for five years without any cost.

According to the company, with the commissioning of the tower, the air quality around Transport Chowk will improve substantially. It is estimated that about 1.5 lakh vehicles ply on this chowk every day. The trial found that air pollution in and around Transport Chowk has come down by 70 to 80 per cent. The temperature around the chowk is also expected to drop by 10-12 degrees below the rest of the city.

According to the manufacturer, the air purifier is a 24-metre-high tower-like structure, which will clean 3.88 crore cubic ft of air from the surrounding environment.

The tower will pull in polluted air from the surrounding environment and release clean air into the atmosphere. A board installed at the tower will display how much polluted air is being sucked by the tower and also how much clean air has been released into the atmosphere.

Among those present on the occasion were Debendra Dalai, Secretary, Environment, Anindita Mitra, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Mandip Singh Brar, Deputy Commissioner, and other senior officers of the Administration.

Followed by the inauguration, a water sprinkler machine was also flagged off by UT Adviser Dharam Pal. The sprinkler will be used to wash roadside plants and also to suppress dust along the roads. A bicycle rally of around 100 students from prominent schools of the city was also flagged off by the Adviser to raise awareness among the public to curb air pollution and sensitise them to use bicycle as their local mode of conveyance.

A prize distribution ceremony was held at Paryavaran Bhawan, Sector 19-B, Chandigarh, to distribute prizes among the winners of a poster-making competition on the theme of the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies this year i.e. healthy air, healthy planet.

How it works

Polluted air enters the inner casing of the mist chamber, wherein a number of mist nozzles spray water in the form of mist on the polluted air. Heavy polluted air particles are drained into a drain tube, which collect in a water tank. Fitted with a system to suck polluted air through inlets, particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM 10, along with various oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, are filtered by the purifier and the purified air exhausted in the environment.

Also read: Let’s wait & watch, say experts, term air purifiers a costly affair

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