Diesel generators are widely used as backup power source in buildings, shops, hospitals, construction sites and etc. However, these machines emit particulate matter, with density up to 300 micrograms per cubic metre, during their operations. These soot particles are so tiny, they cannot be filtered by noses or lungs and will directly enter the bloodstream, and are dangerous to human health. According to World Health Organization, the safety limit of particulate matter is 23 micrograms per cubic metre.

With an aim to mitigate the air pollution problem caused by diesel generator, an Indian company Charkr Innovation devised a new technology, called Chakr Shield, to convert soot into ink. The device captures and separates soot particles, heavy metals and harmful substances of diesel exhaust. After adding binder with the pigment extracted from the process, soot ink will be produced.

Dell is one of their clients, and the company used the soot ink for text printing on boxes and made a small step to reduce their environmental footprint.

The founder of Charkr, Dhupar explained that the centre of their business model was to solve pollution problem, soot ink was a solution for air pollution. For solving water pollution problem, they were experimenting on using the soot, which is fine in size and have high surface area, to purify water. In future, Charkr Innovations will work on innovative ways to tackle air pollution caused by chimneys, boilers, incinerators and ships.

Sources:

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/turning-diesel-ink-india

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/young-champion-earth-winner-asia-pacific