Indian-origin professor's air purifier chosen by Time as one of 25 best innovations of 2017

Yogi Goswami, originally from Delhi, is a professor at Florida University.

He has invented an air purifier which destroys harmful pollutants around it -- existing purifiers merely trap them.

The purifier is called Molekule, and has been chosen by Time as one of the 25 best innovations of 2017.

Goswami built Molekule to help battle his son's asthma.

Molekule not only destroys allergens, bacteria and viruses but also breaks down microscopic pollutants a 1,000 times smaller than regular air purifiers.

He spoke with WION's Kartikeya Sharma:

Did you expect your product would be picked by Time as one of the 25 best innovations of 2017?

You never know when somebody picks you as a winner although I understand this technology is going to help alot of people. It is already helping alot of people in theUSA. By the way, it started out with me helping my son and I’m very thankful toTime magazine for picking us up as one of the year's 25 top inventions.

You said it all started with your son. Could you elaborate?

I’m a solar energy researcher and a scientist. I've done a lot of work in the field. This invention came out of personal need. My son is asthmatic. We could only control what he could eat to prevent allergies. Later we found that there were triggers in the air and we could do nothing about it. That is when I started looking into air purifiers. We tried a lot but none of them worked. Afterwards, I gave up what was available in the market and started to think about solar technology which I had developed. That started my research in this field. It took a long time but I did develop the technology. In the beginning, it helped a number of people in my family and then we decided to market.

How is your purifier different from those available on the market?

All other purifiers simply filter the air. They filter the dust particle. You can make them tighter and tighter but they will only filter to a certain size. There are a number of things in air that can cause usproblems. Virus and bacteriaare difficult to stop. Exhaust gases from automobiles and other emissions inside a building pass through filters. This technology breaks them down into benign products. This technology breaks them down into the fundamental benign product.

Your innovation is great science. Please break it down for our readers as to how your product works?

We have a filter on which we have applied a nanocatalyst. As light falls on the nanocatalyst, that’s when the reaction starts. Any organic molecule passing over it gets converted into carbon dioxide and water.

Your air purifier is expensive -- Rs 51,000 a piece. That's very difficult for the middle classto buyin India...

I understand that and feel that eventually we need to bring it down to a level at which it can be used by those who need it and not just by those who can afford it. The cost is because of what has gone into making the product.

Can the cost be brought down?

Eventually, it can come down by scaling. I’m very hopeful that in the future it will come down but today the price tag is required to stay in business.

Are air purifiers the answer to air pollution or just an emergency solution?

We cannot do much about outdoor air pollution. Given that we have outdoor pollution, at least the insides can be regulated so that we can breathe clean air.

Can there be a bigger version of this technology? Like the smog towers installed in Beijing to tackle pollution?

Outdoor air cannot be cleaned by installing towers and I don’t think it is viable. We will need to move to renewable and solar technology. What we found in theUSA was that indoor air was more polluted than outdoor air. Some pollutants start to concentrate indoors and that is why this product becomes so useful in theUSA.

Are you saying that indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air?

In theUSA, outdoor air is much cleaner in comparison to India and China. The buildings are closed and that is why pollutants get stuck inside them. With internal cooling, pollutants begin to concentrate and that is why indoor air in theUSA is far more polluted than outdoor air.

How can air pollution be tackled in countries like India?

It is true that Delhi’s air is polluted and bad for health. Some effects of this pollution will show up in the long run. Outdoor air needs to becleaned and solutions have to be looked at. Solar energy might be expensive but not more expensive than your health.