Air Bubble Installation Uses Nature's Power To Purify Dirty Air
Air pollution is considered the world's largest environmental health threat, with, according to the WHO, 93 per cent of children breathing polluted air every day.
Otrivin has launched the Otrivin Air Bubble, an educational architecture, using biotechnology to purify the air. Otrivin is demonstrating how innovative nature-based technology can expand the functionality of nose to ‘clean’ the air that children breathe in polluted urban environments.
The presence of the Otrivin Air Bubble at COP26 in Glasgow, one of the UK’s most polluted cities, comes after a pilot project was erected in Poland, one of Europe’s most polluted countries. What followed was a successful 6-month test of this technology in the city of Warsaw.
By using microalgae to actively filter and re-metabolise pollution particles and carbon dioxide in a specially designed interactive environment, the Otrivin Air Bubble, Warsaw provided an 80 per cent reduction in PM2.5 (particulate matter) levels on average[9], achieving healthier air quality levels and allowing visitors to experience cleaner air in an engaging way.
Whilst children contribute the least to air pollution, they are some of the most vulnerable to its effects. Quicker breathing, taking in more air relative to their body weight and their still developing immune systems, means children will feel the burden of air pollution through their physical health now, and throughout their lifetime.
Farhad Nadeem, Otrivin Global Brand Director, comments, “Air pollution is a devasting global health issue that is only getting worse, and it is unacceptable that children bear the burden of it, yet they contribute the least to the problem. Otrivin exists to help people breathe better, so with the Air Bubble we wanted people to know that it is possible to clean the air we breathe whilst championing the need for us all to take individual action now, to breathe cleaner."
Dr Marco Poletto, co-founder of ecoLogicStudio says, "The Air Bubble Glasgow is a biotechnological architecture made 99 per cent of air, water and living algae cultures, wrapped into a thin, transparent, 100 per cent recyclable TPU membrane. It has 24 bioreactors hosting living photosynthetic Chlorella sp algae cultures, which actively “eat” the polluting molecules as well as capture carbon dioxide to then release fresh clean oxygen. The Air Bubble is mainly powered by two renewable, unlimited sources of energy: the sun light and children's instinctive drive to interact and learn. In this way it creates a purified microclimate, a true bubble of clean air.”
For the duration of COP26, visitors attending the Green Zone exhibitions are welcome to come down and immerse themselves in the interactive elements of the Otrivin Air Bubble and learn about science, biotechnology and innovative solutions for the urban realm.
