Indian scientists develop plant-based air purifier

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Budding Indian scientists have developed a living plant-based air purifier -- ‘Ubreathe Life -- that amplifies the air purification process in indoor spaces.

These indoor spaces can either be hospitals, schools, offices and even people's homes.

The state-of-the art 'Smart Bio-Filter' can make breathing fresh, claimed Urban Air Laboratory, a startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar. The budding scientists are from IIT Ropar, IIT Kanpur and the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.

"The technology works through the air-purifying natural leafy plant. The room-air interacts with leaves and goes to the soil-root zone where maximum pollutants are purified. The novel technology used in this product is 'Urban Munnar Effect' along with patent-pending ‘Breathing Roots' to exponentially amplify the phyto-remediation process of the plants. Phyto-remediation is a process by which plants effectively remove pollutants from the air," said a release from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

'Ubreathe Life' effectively improves the 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 which creates a suction pressure inside the purifier, and releases purified air, formed at the roots, through the outlet in 360-degree direction. The specific plants tested for air-purification include peace lily, snake plant, spider plant etc. and all have given good results in purifying indoor air quality, the release added.