IIT Ropar develops plant-based air purifier machine

Tribune News Service

Ropar, September 1

Budding scientists of Indian Institutes of Technology, Ropar and Kanpur and Faculty of Management Studies of Delhi University have developed a living-plant based air purifier “Ubreathe Life” that amplifies the air purification process in the indoor spaces, including hospitals, schools and offices.

IIT Ropar’s startup company, Urban Air Laboratory, that has developed the product claims it to be world’s first, state-of-the-art ‘Smart Bio-Filter’ that can make breathing fresh. It has been incubated at IIT Ropar, which is a designated iHub -- AWaDH (Agriculture and Water Technology Development Hub) by the Department of Science and Technology.

The technology works through the air-purifying natural leafy plants including Peace Lily, Snake Plant and Spider plants. The room air interacts with leaves and goes to the soil-root zone where maximum pollutants are purified.

The developers claimed that ‘Ubreathe Life’ improves indoor air quality by removing particulate, gaseous and biological contaminants while increasing the oxygen levels in the indoor space through specific plants, UV disinfection and a stack of pre-filter, charcoal filter and HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter fitted in a specially designed wooden box.

There is a centrifugal fan that creates a suction pressure inside the purifier, and releases purified air, formed at the roots, through the outlet in a 360 degree direction.

They said the indoor air spaces are five times more polluted than outdoor air space. That is a cause of concern especially in the present Covid pandemic times. A research, which has recently been published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), calls upon the governments to alter building designs by fixing air changes per hour (a measure of room ventilation with outdoor air). The ‘Ubreathe Life’ can be a solution to this concern, claimed the scientists.

IIT Ropar director Prof Rajeev Ahuja claimed that the results of testing, conducted by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories and the Laboratory of IIT Ropar maintained that the AQI (Air Quality Index) for a room size of 150 sq ft dropped from 311 to 39 in 15 minutes after using ‘Ubreathe Life’.

Sanjay Maurya, CEO, Ubreathe, said the consumer need not water the plant regularly as there is a built-in water reservoir with a capacity of 150ml which acts as a buffer for plant requirements. He says that the device supplies water to the roots whenever it gets too dry.

Prof Ahuja assured that IIT is capable of producing the product in large quantity to market it.