Future smog towers will be at least three times cheaper, experts tell Delhi govt

Smog towers that could come up in Delhi in the future will be at least three times cheaper than the one at Connaught Place, environment department officials said on Wednesday.

A team of six experts from IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi has been constituted to study the impact of the Rs 20-crore air purifier in central Delhi.

Among other things, the two-year study will focus on developing design parameters for a cost-effective indigenous smog tower, according to the officials.

The experts will try to ascertain the area of influence and the optimum fan speed for best results at minimum costs, an official said.

''The study will also focus on reducing the size of the structure, minimising energy consumption, and developing design parameters and specifications for low-cost indigenous filters and fans. The filters imported from the US are really expensive,'' he said.

''The Indian version of this smog tower will be at least three times cheaper, according to experts from IITs,'' the official said.

The smog tower at Baba Kharak Singh Marg has 5,000 coarse filters and as many fine filters which can capture particulate matter as small as 0.3 microns.

''Thus, it can also ascertain the concentration of particles smaller than PM2.5,'' another official said.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had inaugurated the smog tower as a pilot project on August 23.

Environment Minister Gopal Rai said it will be working at full capacity from October 1.

The officials said the air purifier was operated for 24 hours straight for the first time on Tuesday.

''We found that the hourly PM2.5 levels reduced from 34 micrograms per cubic metre to 4 µg/m³ and the PM10 levels reduced from 44 µg/m³ to 6 µg/m³,'' an official said.

The smog tower can purify air in a one-km radius around the structure, at a rate of around 1,000 cubic metres per second.