Skip to main content

A towering feat: China builds ‘world’s biggest air purifier’

A woman wearing a mask for protection against the pollution walks on a pedestrian overhead bridge as office buildings in Central Business District of Beijing are shrouded with smog (AP Photo)
In an attempt to fight air pollution, China has constructed an experimental air purifying tower, touted to be the world’s biggest at a height of over 100 meters (328 feet). According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the tower, built in Xian in Shaanxi province, has brought a positive effect on the chronic smog problem in the country.
The Xian smog tower is undergoing testing by researchers at the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Cao Junji, the research head said that the tower has managed to produce more than 10 million cubic metres (353 million cubic feet) of clean air a day since its launch, the report said. He also noted that the quality of air had improved after observations were made over a distance of 10 square kilometers in the past few months.
More than a dozen pollution monitoring stations have been placed in Xian to check the tower’s impact. According to Cao, the tower was able to bring down the smog to moderate levels the day when air quality was severe. However, the results were preliminary as of now. The team plans to release more detailed data coupled with scientific assessment of the tower’s performance in March.
Launched in 2015, the Xian smog tower was announced to find a low-cost method to artificially remove pollutants from the atmosphere. The polluted air is sucked into the glasshouses of the tower and is then heated up by the solar energy. The hot air then moves through multiple cleaning filters and helps in reducing the pollution.
A full-sized tower would reach 500 metres (1,640 feet) high with a diameter of 200 metres (656 feet), according to a patent application the makers filed in 2014. The size of the greenhouses could cover nearly 30 square kilometres and will be capable of purifying the air for a small-sized city.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over 1 lakh illegal immigrants arrested in US in 2017

On January 25, Trump issued an executive order to set forth the Administration’s immigration enforcement and removal priorities. (Representational Image) The US authorities have arrested 143,470 illegal immigrants this year, according to a latest report. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in its annual report that it has made 143,470 administrative arrests in fiscal year 2017, increasing 30 per cent Year-on-Year, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. An administrative arrest is the arrest of an alien for a civil violation of the immigration laws, which is subsequently adjudicated by an immigration judge or through other administrative processes. Of the total arrests, 110,568 occurred after January 20, which is a 42 per cent increase over the same time period last year, according to the report. US President Donald Trump took the oath of office on January 20 this year. On January 25, Trump issued an executive order to set forth the Administration’s immigrat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canada debates new harassment legislation amid #MeToo storm

We can afford to do more for people who need it by doing less for people who don’t: Trudeau’s message (Photo Source: Reuters) Canada’s parliament began debate on Monday on new legislation to tighten workplace harassment rules, including those governing politicians, as allegations of sexual misconduct mounted against lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. The bill, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in November, gained a new prominence after a federal cabinet minister and two provincial party leaders stepped down last week after being accused of inappropriate behavior. While the proposed law will govern all federal workplaces, including private businesses, the environment among political staffers in Ottawa was in focus as the #MeToo social media movement gained momentum in Canada. “It clearly is a crisis in this workplace,” Employment Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters outside the House of Commons. “We talk a lot about getting wom...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump administration drops Obama-era easing of marijuana prosecutions

The US Justice Department on Thursday rescinded an Obama administration policy that had eased enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that legalized the drug, instead giving federal prosecutors wide latitude to pursue criminal charges. The action by Attorney General Jeff Sessions could have damaging consequences for the burgeoning marijuana industry in the six states including California and Colorado that have legalized the drug for recreational use, plus dozens of others that permit medicinal use. Justice Department officials declined to say whether they might take legal action against those states, saying further steps were “still under consideration.” Federal law still prohibits marijuana even as some states move to legalize it. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump’s top priority was enforcing federal law “whether it’s marijuana or immigration.” The policy change, detailed by Sessions in a one-page memo to federal prosecutors nationwid...
Post a Comment
Read more