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ZNERA Proposes a Network of Smog Filtering Towers To Combat Delhi's Rising Pollution Levels

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Dubai-based architecture firm Znera Space have released "The Smog Project," a design to clean the air in Delhi, one of the world's most polluted cities.

Shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival's Experimental Project Category, the Smog Project hopes to address Delhi’s noxious air quality by adding a network of smog filtering towers throughout the entire city. India's capital has become known for toxic smog levels from overcrowding and industrial waste. Znera's proposal hopes to cleanse the smog chamber and generate smog-free air.

Many factors have come together to define Delhi's air quality. Industrial waste and vehicles, burning diesel and kerosene, add to the pollution from power plants located within city limits. The pollution level is worsened by crop burning in the adjacent Haryana and Punjab region. The burning has exacerbated the prevailing pollution crisis and is being blamed as the primary reason for the sudden toxic smog enveloping the city and its neighbouring areas. The proposed network of smog-free towers will help the city cleanse its air and make it breathable again.

Utilizing solar power as a renewable source of energy, the project was created with the hexagonal grid that follows the urban grid of Lutyen’s Delhi. Each 100-meter tower is meticulously placed at a key city node and would create a volume of semi-clean air within two kilometres. The vertical air cleaning tower would be connected by sky bridges that are built with Hydrogen Generating Cells to power the towers. Znera argues for a localized approach, stating that the construction could start with a single district to judge the success rate before a larger network is built.

Specifically designed to remove smog and contaminants from the air, the project uses a filtration pod at the base and air propellers at the top. Inflows at the base of a tower suck in air and pass it through five stages of filtration -- including charcoal-activated carbon, negative ion generators and electrostatically-charged plasma -- to trap airborne particles. Air is forced upwards where it passes through a photo-catalyst filter to sterilize bacteria and viruses, before being released into the atmosphere. The towers would produce 3.2 million cubic meters of clean air per day.

The Smog project was designed as a provocation and statement to create awareness about the precarious world health problem in India.

References: https://www.archdaily.com/country/india