Giant air purifiers powerless against Beijing's polluted air

An air purifier designed by a Dutch company has shown disappointing results in Beijing's severe smog.

A 7-meter-tall air purifier cannot clean the polluted air in Beijing. Photo: Newsy.

After months of testing, the giant air purifier failed to clean more than 30,000 m³air per hour, as claimed by Dutch designer Daan Roosegarde and green technology company European Nano Solutions, The Epoch Times reported yesterday. Test results showed that the machine only filtered the surrounding air instead of the amount corresponding to a small city block.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that particulate matter, or hazardous particles in the air, should not exceed 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air over 24 hours. However, according to the measurement results, the air within 5 meters around the purifier contained 89 micrograms/m³.

The air purifier, called the "Smog Alert Tower," was unveiled in September in Beijing, China. Standing 7 meters tall, the machine sucks in smog, traps pollution particles and compresses carbon particles into gemstones that can be attached to jewelry.

"When the Smog Alert Tower is charged with a positive current, an electrode releases positive ions into the air. These positive ions attach to small dust particles. A negatively charged surface attracts the positive ions along with the dust and stores them inside the tower. This technology can filter out microscopic smog particles," Roosegaarde explains.

Despite the disappointing test results, Chinese authorities decided to use the purifier for educational purposes.

According to VNE