He only finished elementary school, yet his ideas caught the attention of the US. A young Indian has figured out how to get rid of pollutants in the air and still use them
Although smog plagues virtually the entire world, or virtually every major city, India in particular has the worst air pollution on Earth - 22 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world are located here. Last year, the capital city of New Delhi also recorded the highest ever concentration of PM2.5 - 14 times the safe limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The problem with smog is that fine PM2.5 particles (also known as 'black carbon', which contributes to global warming, among other things) have been linked to lung and heart disease and are also known to cause cognitive impairment and damage to the immune system. Exposure to air pollution then claims the lives of about 7 million people globally each year (and New Delhi contributes a full one million to that number). "With every small increase in air pollution, there is a substantial increase in associated deaths," warns Aaron Bernstein, director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard University.
No wonder, then, that the need to change the situation has also arisen in India. "When I used to play outside in Mumbai, I always coughed because of the pollution - I suffered from asthma while growing up, which among other things also reduced my ability to run fast," recalls Angad Daryani, now 23. It was this experience that gave him the idea that he could try to create a device that could clean the dirty air. And what is his solution? Capture the harmful fumes in containers so that they can then be used for something useful too - i.e. to make floor coverings.
The path of a successful inventor
Apart from the great idea, Daryani's journey to success is certainly interesting - he left the education system after completing compulsory schooling and subsequently educated himself - but he worked with the MIT Media Lab. He has launched several start-up projects and social initiatives and has also been involved in the creation of several interesting inventions (including the "eye-pad", a device that can instantly convert written English and French into Braille, etc.).
As part of his subsequent studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the USA, the young man designed an outdoor purification system that removes pollutants from the air - the device sucks them in and collects them. And in fact, one could say that this is a very useful "air purifier". In order to put his idea into practice, Daryani then founded Praan, a start-up aimed at producing an affordable device that could clean the air effectively. "Praan's goal is to design the world's first filterless air purifier that can clean as much air as possible while becoming part of the mainstream infrastructure," the company's background information material then stated. Why no filters, which are commonly used in air purifiers designed for home use, for example? The filters have to be changed, which is not really possible in the case of an entire polluted city. So instead of a filter, Daryani has placed "collection containers" in his purifiers, which need to be emptied once every 2-6 months. The collected pollutants then go to the premises of another cooperating Indian company, which uses them to make decorative floor tiles. The carbon is used as a dye, which is used in combination with the quarry waste - and the necessary binder, i.e. clay or cement, is not missing. The result is cut into small tiles and distributed as flooring in restaurants, shops and hotels.
A purifier accessible to everyone
Indian cities, which are generally known as the ones with the most polluted air, while tackling this problem, often find that existing equipment designed to clean the air is not only space-consuming but also expensive. For example, New Delhi recently installed a 148-metre high 'smog tower' that cost over two million dollars.
Daryani's solution seems much more "accessible" - his purifier measures less than two metres and can be mounted on street lights, houses, etc. And as for the price, it is only slightly more than the price of a new iPhone. Affordability was key for Daryani. "Many of the world's most polluted countries are also among the poorest. Poor people work in factories, build infrastructure, take public transport to work, but still work and live in the most polluted environments," says the young inventor. This is in line with the findings of a recently published study, which found that low-income groups in India are at higher risk of dying from air pollution - despite the fact that they do not themselves contribute to the production of pollution.
But the whole "business plan" is definitely not just in the thinking or prototype phase - Praan has already raised $1.5 million from American and Indian investors - and Daryani is investing that money in a pilot project that will see his innovative air purifiers deployed in schools, hotels and industrial areas across India this autumn. Daryani himself believes his technology has the potential to expand globally - indeed, his purifiers have already attracted interest in Mexico and South Korea. "Future generations must feel that they have any future at all," the inventor concludes.
