POLLUTANT REMOVING AIR GROOVE

Abstract

An air purification system with specific plants having microbes on rhizosphere/roots capable of removing pollutants from a surrounding environment. The system has a plurality of axial fans provided at an inlet and an outlet to facilitate flow of polluted air in and clean air out. The system has a perforated plate for collecting water in a water tank. The water tank with pump are for regular watering of the plants. The system has a pipe and nozzles for spraying of water with nutrients and a sensor for detecting pollutants. The system is capable of reducing a wide range of pollutants, such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Claims

1. An air purification system based aeroponic technique, said system comprising: a. specific plants having microbes on rhizosphere/roots capable of removing pollutants from surrounding; b. a plurality of axial fans at an inlet and an outlet provided to facilitate flow of polluted air in and clean air out; c. a water tank with a pump for regular watering of the specific plants; d. a perforated plate for collecting water in the water tank; e. a pipe and nozzles for spraying of water with nutrients; and f. a sensor for detecting pollutants.

2. An air purification system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the specific plants are selected from the group consisting of Peperomia capperata, Peperomia capperata variegata, Peperomia sandersii, Maranta leuconeuro, Maranta cinza, Alocasia amazonica, Alocasia macorrhiza variegata, Calathea zebrina, Calathea roseopicta, Crassula ovata, Crassula argenta, Pilea microphylla, Pilea spruceana, Philodendron xanadu, Dracaena mahatama, Sanseivera cylindrica, Savia splendens, Alpinia zerumbet variegata, Brassica oleracea, Pandanus tectonus, Coleus blumei, Excoecaria cochinchinensis, Tradescantia zebrina, Kalanchoe tomentosa, Beaucarnea recurvate;

3. An air purification system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of axial fans at the inlet and the outlet generate a flow force for passing air through exposed roots of the specific plants hanging from a support.

4. A method of removing pollutants from air comprising using the air purification system of claim 1, wherein the specific plants aeroponically remove the pollutants from air around the air purification system.

5. An air purification system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the perforated plate collects the water into the water tank with the help of pipe.

6. An air purification system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the purification system is provided with an energy source selected from the group consisting of a solar panel, wind energy and a conventional energy source.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0018] This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, throughout which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0019] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrates an air purification system; specific plants (1); rhizosphere/roots (2); plurality of axial fans (3); water tank (8); pump (7); pipe (6); nozzles (4); sensor (5) electricity through solar panel (10) or wind energy.

[0020] FIG. 3 is Percent reduction of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and BTEX

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

[0021] Pollutant Removing Air Grove (PRAG) works on aeroponic technique consisting of specific plants (1) having microbes on rhizosphere/roots (2) capable of removing pollutants from surrounding. A plurality of axial fans (3) at inlet and outlet are provided to facilitate flow of polluted air in and clean air out. The proposed system includes a water tank (8) with pump (7) for regular watering of the plants. The proposed system includes pipe (6) and nozzles (4) for spraying of water with nutrients. The proposed system includes a sensor (5) for detecting pollutants. The electricity will be provided through solar panel (10) or wind energy.

[0022] The present invention Pollutant Removing Air Grove (PRAG) provides an air purification system and apparatus for indoor as well as outdoors. The proposed system includes a specific plant or set of plants capable of removing pollutants from air around the filtration units based on aeroponic technique. The proposed system includes a plurality of axial fans both at inlet and outlet for generating a flow force for passing air through exposed roots of the plant hanging from the support. The proposed system includes a water tank and a pump for watering. The proposed system includes pipe and nozzles for spraying of water with nutrients. The purposed system consists of a perforated plate for collecting water into the water tank with the help of pipe. The proposed system consists of a sensor for detecting pollutant level. The combination of the plants, and the axial fan in the proposed system can be referred to as filtration unit. The proposed system allows the integration and installation of sophisticated sensors, which can detect the concentration of the pollutants in the atmospheric air. Thus, the system starts when the pollution levels exceed safe limits and turns off when the pollution levels are within safe limits; thereby saving energy or reducing power consumption. The proposed system can also function using other forms of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

[0023] The following examples are given by way of illustration of the present invention and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention.

Examples

[0024] Experiments were performed in the environmental chamber (9.72 m3 in volume) with internal environmental condition 51±0.3% RH and 27±0.2° C. It was operated at full recirculation mode with air exchange rate of 27.5 ACH. The initial concentration of 30 ppm of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene and 100 ppm of BTEX mixture were injected in the chamber. From the FIG. 3 it is clear that, PRAG is showing 45-52% reduction during 90 mins of test period, where benzene is showing 51%, toluene 52%, ethylbenzene 49% and xylene 45% of reduction. Mixture of these VOCs i.e. BTEX had shown 49% reduction. In the NYSERDA Report, 2010 experimental test were performed on the modified dynamic botanical air filter actually developed by Wolverton. With the plants, the filter system had higher initial removal efficiency of only 33% for toluene.

[0025] In order to find out the cleaning ability of the air cleaner, quantifying CADR is the effective method. It is a measure of air cleaners delivery of contaminant free air expressed in cubic feet per minute. In this study PRAG had shown CADR ranging from 10.39-12.12, where toluene had shown highest delivery rate 12.12 and had xylene shown lowest delivery rate 10.39. Single pass efficiency (η) represented the fraction of pollutants removed from the air stream as it passed through the device. PRAG had shown single pass efficiency ranging from 44.5-51.9%%, where benzene 51.3% %, toluene 51.9% %, ethylbenzene 48.8% % and xylene 44.5%.

Advantages

[0026] It addresses problems of indoor as well as outdoor pollution and can be used in households, schools, hospitals, basements, subways, commercial and corporate buildings, industrial complex and traffic junctions.

[0027] It can reduce wide range of pollutants such as particulate matter, VOCs, SOx. NOxIt uses sensors to detect level of pollutants in the surrounding.

[0028] It can use energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar.