Could New Tower Clean Up China’s Air Once and For All?

China has one of the worst pollution problems in the world.  Currently, the air in China contains around nine times more the level of PM2.5 than is recommended by the World Health Organization.  The population of China is putting themselves at risk every day just by walking outside.  However, one man would like to put an end to this danger and change the air quality in China.  The man in question is Daan Roosegaarde, who is a Rotterdam based artist, and the solution he has designed is a seven-meter tall tower that uses positive ionization to filter the pollution from the air.

The way in which the tower works is similar to that of a giant vacuum cleaner.  It sends out positive ions that attach themselves to dust particles which then clean the air.   Meanwhile, a negatively charged surface within the tower pulls in the positive ions and the dust particles.  The system is very energy efficient.  It runs on just 1400 watts and can clean around 30,000 cubic meters of air an hour.   Roosegaarde is also in the process of using this technology to design a portable air cleaning system that will fit onto a bicycle.

As well as the tower and bicycle ideas, Roosegaarde and his team have also worked out how to make jewelry from the pollutants found in air.  They have done this by condensing the dust that has been collected by the tower until it forms into tiny black stones which are then sealed into resin cubes and mounted onto various pieces of jewelry such as rings or cufflinks.  They seem to be quite popular too and are currently selling for around 250 Euros per item.

So, although the tower has already been erected in Beijing, we won’t know how well it’s performing as according to Liu Guozheng, secretary of the China Forum of Environmental Journalists, as the results are not going to be published.  But, any help in cleaning up the country’s air will be welcomed by all and this will hopefully be the first of many smog cleaning towers to come to China.

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