India’s first Smog Tower

India’s first smog tower was inaugurated at Connaught Place in Delhi in August 2021. It was established after the Supreme Court had directed the Central Pollution Control Board and the Government of Delhi in 2019 to come up with a plan to install smog towers to combat air pollution.

• Smog Tower: Structures that work as large-scale air purifiers.
• How will it work: The present system has been developed by IIT Bombay in collaboration with The university of Minnesota. It will work on a downdraft air cleaning mechanism where the polluted air will be sucked at the top and purified air will be released at the bottom of the tower. It has the capability to filter pollutants in the range of 0.3 microns to 10 microns.
• Benefits: Though this is an experimental tower, and more such towers are to be setup in the NCR, yet the technology has the ability to improve the air quality up to 1 km from the tower. It will reduce the amount of PM 2.5 and PM 10, which cause respiratory illness and premature deaths.