Clearing the air

The acronym of the technology that engineering students Hemil Modi and Ritesh Kolan have developed,reads SHWAS. Literally translated from Marathi meaning ‘breath’. And that is precisely what these students have managed to create SHWAS that stands for Super House Plant Activated Carbon System,is a low-cost,no maintainence,air pollution control system that helps to clean the air in the houses without having to invest either a lot of time or money. So much so that the two students hailing from the AISSMS College of Engineering recently presented a paper at the International Scientific Practical Conference on “Architecture,Construction and Transport”,which was held at the Eurasian National University,Astana, Kazakhstan.

“ The filter is a three tier system. First a plant like Bamboo palm,or Peace Lily that have been identified for the removal of atmospheric VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) is fit with the activated carbon based filter. The next step involves connecting a small exhaust fan that drives all the indoor air to the filter for purification. The third part is a water shower arrangement through which the air from the filter is passed. This works as a water scrub,which remove any leftover pollutants and it also cools the air and generates oxygen,” says Modi,a third year civil engineering student.

The students came up with the idea for the unit when both Modi and Kolan read about research that is being done at NASA regarding the use of these plants combined with low cost purifying systems,to improve the environment in space. “Most individuals spend up to 16 hours indoors and with the kind of pollution that is happening outdoors this is bound to reflect in the internal environments in buildings and residential apartments,” adds Kolan.

The cost of the system as Modi points out is around Rs 2000,which can be further reduced to Rs 1000 if it is mass produced. “At the conference we had Russian environmentalists who were ready to purchase our technology or even willing to have a collaborative effort to work further on it,” adds Kolan.