Startup claims its purifier could ‘provide clean air to 75,000 people within 3-km radius’

As the city grapples with dangerous levels of air pollution, a Delhi-based startup has proposed to create a 40-feet-tall purifier, which it claims could provide clean air to 75,000 people living within three-km radius around it.

Kurin Systems applied for patent after testing the technology at one of their at-home devices. It got the patent for the “world’s largest as well as the strongest air purifier” published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, its co-founder Pavneet Singh Puri said.

Specially designed keeping the national capital’s air condition in mind, a single one of these purifiers can provide clean air within three-km radius of their location, impacting the lives of 75,000 people, Mr. Puri said.

According to the World Health Organization, India is home to six of the top 10 polluted cities in the world, with Delhi placed on the top of the list.

As many as 1.2 million people die every year in India due to air pollution, a Greenpeace report published last year showed.

The purifier, which Kurin calls the ‘City Cleaner’, will have the capacity to clean 32 million cubic metres of air per day, its makers said.

The device can generate 1,300,000 cubic metres of clean air per hour, they said.

HEPA filter

The air will be purified by using the highly effective H14 grade highly effective particulate arrestance (HEPA) filter, which can clean up to 99.99% of the particulate matter present in the air in conjunction with a pre-filter and activated carbon.

“The purifier will be different from China’s Smog Tower in the sense that it won’t depend on the ionisation technique to clean the air,” he added.

The ionisation of air, according to Mr. Puri, does not eradicate pollutants but separates the pollutants from oxygen, which could be a part of the problem itself.

Kurin City Cleaner can use nine stages of physical filters to clean out 99.99% pollutants from the air.

“We have been pitching the idea of city-level air cleaning to central as well as the state governments hoping to make a headway soon,” said Madhur Mehta, co-founder of the firm.

Mr. Puri noted that the tower can be completed within four months after getting a green light.