China Builds ‘World’s Biggest Air Purifier’ (and it seems to be working)

in #science7 years ago

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/?utm_medium=source&utm_source=rnews

A lot of breathing in the poisoned air during the formation of industry, now the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom don't spare money for innovative projects to improve the environment. The other day in Xi'an, a hybrid installation of smog absorption worth $ 2 million was put into production capacity. It occupies 10 square meters. km area and consists of a huge pipe and an array of solar collectors.
The main advantage of the prototype of the "Xian anti-saga" is that it works in a passive mode. A huge array of glass roofs on the ground serves to capture sunlight, which heats the air and that gravity rushes upwards - into a pipe 18 m high. In the pipe, gases pass through a series of filters, so that the atmosphere is already conditioned with air.
Conditionally - official data on the results of the filtering is still not published yet. The plant started operation in January 2018, it passes through 5-8 million m3 of air per day and at peak pollution during the winter heating periods showed stable operation. Indirect data from pollution sensors in neighboring areas indicate a decrease in the concentration of solid particles in the air by 19% in the last months of winter. It sounds interesting, but it is a very low indicator, if you evaluate the economic benefits of the project.
The experts have many questions to the creators of the Xian anti-siege - in particular, they are interested in the ability to purify air from sulfur dioxide and the influence of such a "vacuum cleaner" on the ecology and the movement of air masses in the city. To normalize the environment in Xi'an, you need at least a dozen such towers, but their construction will be too expensive even without taking into account the allocation of huge useful land areas. Therefore, the project is still at the experimental stage.
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Wow, what an interesting project! I really hope this does work out, because I think it could go a long way in stopping air pollution. Not to mention, it has a very cool looking architectural design. China is so innovative!

yeah I hope so, that would be great for the environment.

You got a 3.44% upvote from @minnowvotes courtesy of @bjan!