IIT-J team develops innovative device to improve indoor air quality

Jodhpur: A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur has developed a novel device for good indoor air quality. Long living pathogens and small size aerosols are not effectively dealt by the currently available indoor air purifiers. The new device based on Cold-plasma Detergent in Environment (CODE) technology is capable of deactivating more than 99.99 per cent of harmful pathogens and provides quality indoor air. The technology aims to deal with both aerosol transport and aerosol infectivity simultaneously in the indoor environment and proactively treat the air in the occupied space at the source of contamination. The concept is based on non-equilibrium cold plasma in combination with nano-technology. The device produces optimum concentrations of negative ions having cold-plasma detergent ions as well as positive ions in the environment similar to mother nature. It consumes less power, deactivates bacteria, moulds and viruses, captures dust and pollen, reduces volatile organic compounds and also removes odours. The technology was developed by Divya Plasma Solutions — a startup incubated at IIT Jodhpur’s Technology Innovation and Start-up Centre (TISC). “We initiated this work during Covid-19 pandemic to disinfect the indoor environment and with a hard work of three years we have come up with the Novel CODE based indoor air steriliszers which will be soon available in the market for commercial use,” said Prof. Ram Prakash from the IIT, in a statement. “The developed CODE device is unique with multiple advantages and will be highly useful for hospitals to reduce cross contamination besides its usages in indoor public places,” he added. The technology, detailed in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, is attractive for individuals in offices, houses, public places (such as healthcare facilities, schools, colleges, universities, large shopping malls, commercial buildings, taxis, trains, cinema halls, conference halls, marriage halls, etc.) and can provide a quality indoor environment. Systems based on this technology can eventually be deployed at all public and health care facilities as standalone systems or can be integrated with the ducts, AC, Coolers, etc, the researchers said.