Delhi Is Testing a ‘Fog Cannon’ to Tackle Air Pollution. Here’s How It Works

The smog in Delhi has been smothering citizens since November, as the air quality in the capital has been falling consistently. To tackle the situation, the state will now use Cloud Tech’s ‘fog cannon’.

Cloud Tech, based in Haryana, has designed a fog cannon that, in theory, helps bring down smog levels. The cannon, also known as the anti-smog cannon, consists of a huge cylindrical drum and a water tank with a high-velocity fan attached. It essentially sprays out water from the tank as micro-droplets into the air.

These droplets, in theory, stick to pollutants, especially particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10, weighing them down and creating the effect of rain.

The fog cannon is currently being tested in the highly polluted Anand Vihar ISBT area of the capital.

Anti-smog gun spraying water at Anand Vihar ISBT – one of Delhi’s #pollution hotspots – to improve air quality. Its a trial run. @htdelhi @htTweets #airquality pic.twitter.com/T53N5ZWfXW
— Joydeep Thakur (@joydeepthakur) December 20, 2017

A fog cannon in action. Source: Twitter.

Vimal Saini, director of Cloud Tech, spoke to Hindustan Times about the cannon. “The fog cannon has been designed to tackle the problem of airborne dust particles generated by open mining activities, demolition work, and bulk material handling. This has been shown to suppress up to 95% of airborne dust particles. At present, our machines are being used at mines, thermal power plants, and cement plants,” he said.

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The functioning of the fog cannon was demonstrated to deputy chief Minister Manish Sisodia and environment minister Imran Hussain on Monday.

A monitoring station has been placed close to Anand Vihar to observe the cannon, and verify if the cannon is capable of bringing down smog levels and if so, by how much.

“Exactly how much reduction takes place will be possible to know through this exercise,” Saini told Hindustan Times.

Featured image source: Cloud tech.

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