A Masters student at TU Delft University in the Netherlands has dreamed up a new way of protecting city-dwellers from air pollution by means of a "plant backpack" that filters out harmful particles in the user's environs so they can breathe fresh air.
"The Plant Bag" - a transparent backpack with plants growing inside it - is fitted with a ventilation system that draws air in through a HEPA filter as well as the plants' root substrate. The filtered air, further cleaned by the plants, is then delivered to the user's nose and mouth via tubes channelled upwards through a shawl-style collar attached to the backpack.
Although HEPA filters are known to be able to filter out as much as 99.9% of harmful particles in the air, Marnix de Kroon, the bag's designer, says the plant root substrate will catch the microscopic particles too small for the HEPA filter, which can nonetheless cause health problems.
De Kroon designed the Plant Bag for the iGreen design challenge, facilitated by Battle of Concepts and organised by the Dutch Foundation for Innovation in Greenhouse Horticulture (SIGN). The competition challenged entrants to present a personal, wearable air-purifying system which utilises the air-purifying effect of plant root substrate.
De Kroon won first prize in the competition, and as a result, SIGN will be developing the Plant Bag concept into a prototype which can be tested in practice.
The Plant Bag "is practical and user-friendly. Moreover, the bag can be personalised and made into a fashion accessory," ruled the iGreen competition jury.
Tests for which plant will be most effective in the backpack so far suggest aloe vera will be a good match, says De Kroon.
The Plant Bag is targeted at residents of cities with extreme levels of air pollution, such as Beijing, which reached record air pollution levels in December 2015.
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