The Smog Tower - A Solution for Air Pollution?

Once again, winter has come, and once again, the dead grey blanket of smog has covered the sky, and we have to compromise with the poor air quality. As a result, many of us have to suffer from breathing problems. It was thus necessary that the Smog Tower should be installed in Delhi. The entire world has suffered heavily due to smog. According to a joint study conducted by a global environmental group and a Swiss air quality technology company, the smog gulped down as many as 6,700 lives only in Lucknow in 2020. While in Delhi, about 57,000 people lost their lives to smog. First, the schools and colleges were closed due to Covid-19. Now they are shut due to the threat from smog. It is a scary situation. In 2019, the Supreme Court rightly ordered the Delhi government to install these towers. The first tower was inaugurated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in August this year. It is installed behind the Shivaji Stadium Metro Station at Connaught Place, New Delhi. The second one was installed at Anand Vihar in September 2021.

Smog: The Smokey Threat!

Smog is a variant of air pollution. This word is a combination of the words Smoke and Fog. It finds its origin as old as the decade of the 1900s. At that time, smoke arose from the burning of coal. In addition, the industrial areas also emitted lots of smoke. And it is no different today! The only difference may be in the number of industries that have increased in this age. The difference is also in the number of people living at risk, which is no less than 4 to 5 crores. They are constantly living in fear of this smoke threat.

Causes of Smog

There are many types of smog, but the recognized ones are Classical Smog and Photochemical Smog. The Photochemical smog takes birth by the reaction of sunlight with nitrogen oxide and a volatile organic compound (VOC) found in the atmosphere. 

• Nitrogen oxide – is emitted from car exhaust, factory emissions, and coal power plants. 
• VOC – is emitted from Cleaning Solvents, gasoline, and paints. 

When the sunlight comes in touch with these particles, they form airborne particles along with a ground-level ozone layer or smog. When the ozone layer is high up in the atmosphere, it is beneficial for the human body as it protects against the very harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. But when it is lower down on the earth, does it become dangerous for the human body. Smog is disastrous for the health of plants, animals, and human beings. It can damage the lungs, and people with respiratory illness can be vulnerable to it. Especially people suffering from Asthma face the biggest problem. Ozone is dangerous for the eyes as well. Eyes can burn and become itchy. The traffic of these cities and emissions from the industries and factories give birth to smog. In addition, we had a big celebration for Diwali, and despite the restrictions of the government, we burnt crackers, and we did it on a large scale! We talk of green Diwali, but we do not practice it in real life and see the grave consequences! Stubble burning is also one reason that adds to the dangerous layer. So many people are inhaling poisonous air! The environment has become poisonous. It is why the Delhi government did not wait to install Smog Towers in the Delhi NCR region.

The Smog Tower!

Thus, it holds air pollutants prevalent in the air longer than in summer and so in winter situation becomes alarming not because of the beautiful fog but because of the dangerous smokey monster called the smog. The environment is not improving! Instead, it is getting bleaker year after year, and when the indication levels of the air quality escalated several times, the Supreme Court had to come into action and instructed the Delhi Government and the Central Pollution Control Board to install these Smog Towers for the purification of the air. It took 20 crores to construct this tower which is an experimental project as of now. Its objective is to purify the air within the range of 1 kilometer.

Structure of the Smog Tower

This smog tower is 24 meters high. It has a tower 18 meters in height, with a 6 meters canopy. It has 40 fans on all sides, with one side having 10 fans. These fans purify the air. Each fan can release about 25 meters of cubic per second of air. So, as a whole, the tower can purify about 1000 meters of cubic per second air. The tower has more than 5000 filters for the filtration of the air. They are imported from the USA.

The Purification System 

It uses the ‘Downdraft air cleaning system.’ In this system, the polluted air is sucked from upwards and released out downwards with the help of the fans. So these fans purify the air and exhale it, making the environment clean and healthy. IIT Bombay has come together with the American University to set up these towers.

Evaluation of Effects

It is the first Smog Tower, and IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi are entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating the effects of this Smog Tower for two years. They will analyze its functioning under different weather conditions. In addition, it also has a Supervisory Control and Data System, which will collect all the data like the air quality at a specific time, the humidity, etc. Monitors will also be set up near the Smog Tower to display the level of pollution. We can just hope that this solution works for the sake of our breath!

Conclusion 

The Smog Tower is indeed an innovative step to fight pollution but are these towers the perfect answer to the recurring problem of air pollution? We will have to wait and see! However, the best way to reduce air pollution is to stop it there at the source. We would have to reduce emissions. We can use carpools and plant more trees. We can use greener alternatives for stubble burning. As they say, precaution is better than cure! Smog Towers are a great effort to cure but wouldn’t it be better to put that effort into reducing air pollution? Wish you a breath of fresh air!