Only strict rules can not combat smog and particulate matter. Therefore, China has now built the largest air filter in the world. The test run of the 100-meter tower seems a success.
Many cities in China are regularly shrouded in gray haze. Millions of people suffer from respiratory and lung diseases. At the end of last year, the Beijing government responded to the persistent smog problem by ordering the temporary closure of factories, blast furnaces, and several coal-fired power plants across the country. For this purpose, several companies were permanently shut down, which violate the new and stricter emission rules. On the other hand, engineers from the Environmental Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences want to actively cleanse the air in the affected metropolises. That’s why they built the largest air purifier in the world and sent it to trial operation at the end of 2017.
The white tower in Xi’an in the province of Shaanxi towers 100 meters in total. Especially in winter, the city sinks due to coal and wood heating in dense smog. Through a system of pumping equipment, the air is sucked into the base of the tower. There it is first passed through several greenhouses.
Here, CO2 and dirt particles are naturally extracted from the air. The pre-cleaned air is then heated up and pumped into the center of the tower, where it passes through several passive and active filter systems. In total, it should be possible to clean up to ten million cubic meters per day. The energy required for this would be generated by solar cells.
The tower is said to have been quite effective and the method has been „encouraging“, according to project leader Cao Junji. The fine dust content of the air alone could have been reduced by an average of 15 percent. Within a radius of ten square kilometers, the air quality was measurable and noticeably improved for the residents. In March, the researchers want to publish accurate data. The 100 meter tower is a pilot project. He could be the precursor to a much larger version. It would be up to 500 meters high and 200 meters wide and would clean up the air for a whole city.
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The idea of air filters for cities is basically not new. The artist Daan Roosegaarde developed the Smog Free Tower in 2015 in cooperation with the University of Delft and set it up in Rotterdam. Copper coils and fine filters trap dirt particles from the air. The German start-up Green City Solutions, on the other hand, sells City Trees. The planted walls are to provide the air filter performance of 275 trees. Copies of it can be found, inter alia, in Dresden, Krefeld, Paris and Oslo.
