By Jonathan Hicap

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea has developed a new technology to combat fine dust, a persistent problem in Asia that has affected the health of millions of people.

Backed by funding from Korea’s Ministry of Environment, Seoul-based Dwelling Company said its air purification vehicle can remove fine dust and is being eyed for the Asian market including the Philippines.

The ministry, which commissioned the company to make the technology, provided 1.1 billion won (about $938,711) while the company infused 600 million won ($512,024).

“It’s the first to be created in Asia,” Dwelling CEO Jeon Jeong Hwan told Manila Bulletin and other Asian media under the Kwanhun-Korea Press Foundation Press Fellowship during a demo in Seoul.

He said the air purification vehicle has been “certified as a special vehicle that can reduce fine dust.” Dwelling also has vehicle patents for plasma purification, and removal of odor, ultra-fine dust, virus and bacteria, and its portfolio also includes smart and safe bus shelters, air purifiers for households and air quality monitoring platform.

Fine dust can be classified into fine dust particulate matter or PM10, which has a size of 10 microns or less and ultra-fine dust PM2.5, which is 2.5 microns or less in size, or about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), PM2.5 can “cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and cancers.”

“In Asia, air pollution is an issue. Ultra-fine dust, PM2.5, level in Asia is about over 50 micrograms per cubic meter so it’s quite dangerous. The WHO said PM2.5 contains 61 carcinogens so it’s really cancer-inducing and it’s made up of metal components,” Jeon said.

He said the acceptable level of fine dust in Korea is 35 micrograms per cubic meter compared to 25 micrograms per cubic meter internationally.

Jeon explained that “35 is the minimum level wherein an asthma patient can breathe. But you might say that it’s high compared to 25 but in Korea, the standard used to be 50.”

He added that in Korea, about 30 to 40 percent of fine dust comes from China, 30 percent from industrial complexes or power plants in Korea, 20 percent from vehicles on the road, and 10 percent from households.

Each air purification vehicle, he said, “has a lot of technologies including Internet of Things (IoT), big data and artificial intelligence and it’s a fine dust reduction operating vehicle. We go to areas that have a lot of fine dust or areas that might have high concentration of fine dust. We do preemptive purification with the vehicle.”

He added that “the vehicle can be used in an area with a diameter of 200 meters. It’s good for densely populated areas or any targeted area to protect the health of people.” Each vehicle is equipped with four filters: electronic, plasma, bag and water.

Dwelling spent two and a half years to develop the technology and six months to test it. The company is currently manufacturing the vehicles and by the end of this month, it will be ready for orders. Within this year, Dwelling plans to launch it.

Jeon said they will launch it in the Korean market first before exporting it to other countries although Chinese companies have already approached them to purchase the vehicles.

He said fine dust problem “is really big in Asia. So this market is really huge, about 100 trillion won ($85 billion).”

“I think our target is all Asian countries. First of all, due to industrialization, fine dust has become serious all over Asia not just Korea but like in Indonesia, Malaysia, China,” said Jeon.

The commercial version of the vehicle will run using compressed natural gas (CNG) and the vehicles will come in five sizes: 5, 8, 10, 15 and 20 tons.