Bejing's Smog-Eating Tower is Cleaning the City's Air

Source: City Inspired on October 9, 2016 | Nicholas Efthimiadis

A sliver of Beijing’s polluted skies will get a little clearer in the coming months, thanks to a public art piece that sucks smog out of the air and turns some of it into jewelry.
The Smog Free Project, created by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde and his team at Studio Roosegaarde, debuted at a park in the Chinese capital in October 2016.
The two-story structure is an extra-large air purifier that acts as a vacuum, cleaning almost 40,000 cubic yards of air each hour and leaving a more breathable zone in the space around the tower, according to the design studio.
The tower runs on a small amount of electricity and is powered by wind energy. Using ion technology, it captures about 75% of the particulate matter with sizes of 2.5 and 10 micrometers.

“BASICALLY, IT’S LIKE WHEN YOU HAVE A PLASTIC BALLOON, AND YOU POLISH IT WITH YOUR HAND, IT BECOMES STATIC, ELECTRICALLY CHARGED, AND IT ATTRACTS YOUR HAIR.”

-Daan Roosegaarde, Smog Free Project founder.

However, instead of hair, the tower attracts smog particles, which look like black dust.
In addition, Roosegaarde compresses the material into small “jewels” that adorn rings and cufflinks.