By Florine Roche
Kundapur, Jul 6: At a time when teenagers are making news for all the wrong reasons including whiling away the precious time, 19-year-old Ashik S V, an engineering student hailing from Kundapur has come out with a new device that could filter 70 % of the carbon soot emitted by industries and vehicles.
‘Black carbon’ as soot is called, is second only to carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming. Several studies have indicated that carbon soot has the potential to cause changes in climate. The ill effects of carbon soot on human health are also well chronicled and therefore this new device assumes great significance at a time when global warming is a real and serious issue.
Ashik, an automobile engineering student of Dayananda Sagar Engineering College, Bengaluru, has just completed his 4th semester and is in his native Kundapur for his summer vacations. Speaking to daijiworld.com, he said he has applied for patent for his device and is hopeful of getting once the device is subjected to the due process of patenting.
About his invention Ashik says “I always wanted to do something to curb our contribution to climate change and save millions of lives affected by carbon soot particles in the air. One of the ways to address global warming is by reducing the amount of heat trapping emissions in the atmosphere. This device is going to significantly reduce the carbon soot we emit into the atmosphere,”
Ashik has been working on this concept since his pre-university days pooled his pocket money together and spent almost Rs 1 lac to meet the expenses for his trial and error research. He developed the device after changing almost 30 prototypes and he points out that his device has undergone 150 hours of testing before applying for patent.
The new device comes up with a pipe that is fitted with a fan which is capable of drawing emission from the exhaust and push it out through emulsion soaked organic membranes. The emulsion so pushed through is then filtered by a special metallic mesh in the lower chamber. The purified emulsion is then pumped to the upper chamber to soak the membrane. The device has a long life span but needs servicing every six months.
The device which weighs about 5 kgs can be used mainly for smoke sources like in factories, diesels generators, cars, heavy vehicles and other processing sources of air pollution. The prototype costs about Rs 20,000 and Ashik says “The cost of the actual product can be much less if it is mass produced. The cost of the device can be earned back in 5 to 10 years by selling the collected carbon soot as it gets converted into pure carbon,” This carbon can be reused for asphalting the road or as a colorant in the ink.
Ashik recalls the support and encouragement he received from his parents – father Vasanth Kumar Shet and mother Sharada. His friend Prateek Chandra also helped and was a constant source of inspiration in his research of more than two years. His college professor Naveena rendered a helping hand to write the required research papers.
Ashik is hopeful that his device will be able to withstand the rigor of the examination process and standard patentability criteria, so that his original aim of inventing the device serves its true purpose.