Diesel generators are pretty dirty machines that blow soot into the air. A Startup out of Delhi, it is managed to make it out of the exhaust something meaningful: ink. It’s now been awarded.
Sometimes the air in Delhi is so dirty that you can hardly see the Hand in front of your eyes. It is not a coincidence, because the air quality in the Indian Megacity is one of the worst in the world.
Everyday for Arpit Dhupar. The 25-year-old grew up in Delhi. For him, diseases of the respiratory system were also a part of since childhood. Now the mechanical engineer is fighting against the Filth in the air. His idea of the cause for the Dirt: the ever-present diesel generators in the city.
Whenever in the 17-million metropolis the power goes out, you will be fired up. And the is often.
“The Problem is that diesel generators emit a lot of smoke from unburnt Diesel or soot. And this is very harmful for the health of the people,” says Dhupar of the DW. “The smoke consists of very fine particles, which can not be from the nose or lungs, filter it. You enter directly into the bloodstream.”
Dhupar grew up in Delhi and suffered as a child from the consequences of air pollution
As from soot ink
Filter systems are not New. However, they capture only the soot. Dhupar and his co-founder at Chakr Innovation in order to process it.
“The idea came to me by the many traders who sell in India, sugar cane juice. The use of small diesel engines to operate their presses,” explains Dhupar.
One day, he noticed that the wall colored behind one of the exhaust pipes black. “I wondered if you could make something, so the Mud capture, and thus, walls to paint.”
With his idea he began to seek supporters. He went first to his University professors. The saw, however, no future. If it would, they say, then it would have made someone already.
“But there is a saying,” says Dhupar. “The fool didn’t know it was impossible so he did it anyway.” And he and his former fellow students would have nothing to lose. So they had tried it.
More on the topic: “Smogathon”: Startups against Smog
They founded the Startup Chakr innovation, and after several failures they managed to eventually develop a device, the exhaust catches the soot from diesel in a liquid. “These engines are very sensitive to resistance in the flow of the exhaust gases. This is called counter-pressure. We have managed, with a low counter-pressure is very much the soot field. The had managed before us.”
When converting soot particles in ink will not be discharged to the air
That is bound to the carbon black in a fluid, has great advantages. On the one hand, the microscopic particles can no longer be stirred up and distributed, on the other hand, it is only a small step to ink or color of the wall. Once the pollutants have been removed from the sooty solution, customers need to be told what kind of color you need.
“All that’s missing is the right amount and the right kind of binder,” says Dhupar. Then you could print everything from T-Shirts and coffee mugs to greeting cards, or product packaging.
“Our largest customer for ink-Dell,” says the Startup founder. “You will use to print the cartons for their Laptops.”
Find out more: Sought-after commodity: air
But just as the printing of boxes is the core business of Dell, it was the goal of Chakr Innovation to become the market leader for ink.
“The Problem in the world is not that we have too little ink, the Problem is that we have too much air pollution,” said Dhupar. Therefore, his company was working on the development of filter systems which prevent contaminants in the atmosphere.
Even if Chakr Innovation has only sold 50 of its devices, the Startup has already cooperated with some big companies, including IndianOil and Bosch. Also, prices won Chakr, including, recently, the UNEP Young Champions of the Earth Award.
Chakr Innovation has found a new way to filter dirt particles from diesel generators and in ink convert
Next level: Chimneys on ships
While the customer base increased, so have the Startup founder, a new destination in mind: the emissions of large vessels.
Because cruise ships and large container ships are one of the largest air verpestern in the world. You burn often much dirtier fuel than cars and generators, and encounter sulphur oxides (SOx).
“We have developed our technology further, so that you can also work on marine engines. Thus, we could reduce SOx emissions by 90 percent,” says Dhupar. Now we search for partners in the shipping industry, to test the technology under real-world conditions.
“Existing filter systems work by using water is sprayed into a chamber in the exhaust system to remove the sulphur oxides from the air. It’s called wet wash,” he explains. “What we build, it would require much less energy and would be much cheaper.”
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The plan of five German cities for better airFaster with the bike on the road
As in Copenhagen, Reutlingen, and eat fast cycle plan routes through the city. The Expansion of the Bicycle road network is “long overdue,” says expert Christian hochfeld of the Agora-traffic turning. “We realize that people require on a bike, but the public space is not distributed in a fair way: Just Park Cars is given a lot of space.”
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The plan of five German cities for better airCheap from A to B
Four out of five cities put on cheap transport. In Bonn and Reutlingen, there should be climate-year tickets, following the model of Vienna for 365 Euro, so for 1 Euro per day. Mannheim and Mr mountain price reductions for single-plan, Multi – trip and time cards. Consent of expert-high field: “Cheaper public TRANSPORT is the right way forward, however, the quality needs to be saved anyway.”
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The plan of five German cities for better airLess time to wait
How nice it is, if you go to the bus stop and zack, comes the next Bus. So public transport is fun. Bonn wants to condense, therefore, many bus lines and the clock, so that the waiting times at bus stops are shorter. Analog plan Reutlingen and eat. High-field: “time compression is an absolute requirement that people in the inner cities require on the public TRANSPORT.”
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The plan of five German cities for better airMore Bus Stops
We all know that the bus stop Is too far away from the apartment, or not close enough to the destination, it is, perhaps, rather to the car. Therefore, Reutlingen, Germany, is planning a new bus network with ten new bus lines and one hundred (!) new stops.
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The plan of five German cities for better airNo Waiting for buses
Additional bus lanes are to animate in Herrenberg people to take the bus: In the Bus you will be driving then all of the waiting cars and be happy. Also, green circuits, buses are a means. “The result is that people perceive public TRANSPORT as a faster and more convenient,” commented high-field. “If 40 people sitting in the Bus, should have the precedence over a single human in the Car.”
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The plan of five German cities for better airGreen Wave
Stop-and-Go is not only a strain for the nerves of the motorists, but also for the environment. When Starting a car consumes much Fuel and emits a lot of exhaust gases. Mr. mountain plans to a dynamic control of traffic lights so that motorists can ride the green wave. Instead of the seconds to the next Red light to be displayed, how many km/h free travel.
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The plan of five German cities for better airPackages come with the E-Bike
Mannheim built a “Micro-Hub”: an envelope of space, on the packages from the truck on E-Bikes will be loaded. This means less delivery trucks to drive into the city centre. “A good addition,” says Christian hochfeld. However, “we Want to continue to allow people to order the smallest units online that are then delivered one by one?” Here, the expert sees pent-up demand.
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The plan of five German cities for better airHybrid buses
In Cologne and many other cities, they are already driving around: hybrid buses to reduce harmful emissions. Mannheim now want to procure low-emission Euro 6 hybrid buses for the city centre. Especially cyclists who often have to drive behind buses, will be pleased.
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The plan of five German cities for better airGo digital
No use against gases, but it is good for cool image of Bus and rail: Many German cities already offer Apps very quickly and paperless e-tickets for the public transport buy. Mannheim wants to expand the e-ticket now. Mr. Berg is planning a city-Mobility-App, including rental bicycles and car-sharing easier to organise.