A Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde has come up with a way to get rid of smog. Not only that but at the end of the process of removing smog, you get diamonds! It sounds absurd, doesn’t it?
But with all the news of a toxic smog engulfing Lahore and people’s lives been affected because of it, perhaps someone at the helm of affairs needs to consider this out-of-the-box solution.
Daan’s project to clean smog consists of two parts. First, a 7m tall tower which sucks up polluted air, and cleans it at a nano-level. Second, the carbon from smog particles used to convert the waste into diamonds.
Smog Free Towers
The Smog Free Towers suck in polluted air and filter it. The pollution is trapped inside the filters, conventional filters are used for this cause. The clean air is then released into the atmosphere through the four vents present on the sides of the towers. The collected soot is then used for the creation of diamonds.
 Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD)
The most common method of creating diamonds in laboratories is through the CVD process. This process requires carbon and Daan uses the carbon extracted from the polluted air with the help of Smog Free Towers. Through this process you can also have ashes of a cremated loved one converted to a diamond.
Smog Free Ring, capture by Pim Hendriksen/Studio Roosegaarde
Here’s a simple video on how diamonds are created through CVD process:
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Daan’s Inspiration
Daan spoke about his need to solve a serious man-made problem at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions. He said:
“Our desire for progress and our desire for innovation sometimes creates side effects that you and I can never imagine, creating an environment where children cannot play outside anymore.”
https://youtu.be/NazIARc1VLA
Addressing the issue at hand, Daan has created the Smog Free Project especially for China. He has created the prototype and it is ready to be implemented once the mayor gives the green signal.
Speaking about the launch of the project, he said:
“I would really like to do it in Beijing first. It is the city [that] inspired me to do this.”
This project can be implemented anywhere in the world including in Lahore, which has seen smog take over the city recently.
Daan has very cleverly linked existing technology in such a way that he gets people to pay for cleaner air. The diamonds are bought by people who feel that air pollution is a problem and they are proud to be part of the solution.
wtf
what are the sharp marketing, business and money making thoughts…. Now everywhere in Pakistan would be seen the free smog towers that would suck pollute air…. Government would now launch new projects on polluted sucking air tower and huge money would be transferred there and a day will come there would be only the towers but would not able to suck polluted air but would be only the towers everywhere….. /yes
Means abi tou SMOG ka Reason india hai. Future main Govt khud SMOG phelaey gi aur Rich Politicians in towers ki imports main lag jain gy. Bhai yeh new new rasty mat dikhaya karain Corrupt Logon ko.
Its not diamond you fool. It is just condensed smoke.
Smoke contains carbon particles. These particles are filtered from the smog and collected. The carbon is then compressed to create artificial diamonds.
No, its not diamond. Its just carbon coated with acrylic or crystal. I watched the whole documentary about this machine.
Man its pure diamond, they tested its structure in a very sophisticated lab environment, did you..?
Plz do research Chemical Vapour Deposition b4 putting ur fingers to work.. :P
ma sochta ho kis tarah sa “chu ta yapa” word mohzab ban ja tu apni feeling batnay ma kitni aasni ho
so khya chu ta yapa ha yeh…………..
same to u
It’s possible, but not so incredible.
The article writer loves to paint a picture of towers which clean the air and by a magical process, produce diamonds.
It is real and possible, but less glamorous.
The towers suck in air and filter it. They trap pollution in filters. Normal, conventional filters. A rate of 70% cleaner is definitely possible.
Eventually the filters are taken out, and the collected soot is converted to diamonds. This is a well known process. Diamonds are indeed grown, it is called Chemical Vapour Deposition. The process requires carbon, and this artist uses the carbon from the filters. Similarly you can have ashes of a cremated loved one converted to a diamond.
Then the diamond is sold to people who feel that air pollution is a problem and they are proud to be part of the solution. Their money pays for the towers and the process.
What Daan created is not a magical tower, cleaning the air and pooping out diamonds. He has linked existing technology in such a way that he gets people to pay for cleaner air. An engineer would have told you how many towers you needed and how much they’d cost, and stopped there.
The real solution is cleaner cars and industry. This tower is not a solution in the sense that it can make a meaningful dent in any megacity’s smog; The artist is actually selling awareness.
The discoverer page: https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/smog-free-project/info/
His kickstarter project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1777606920/the-smog-free-tower/description