Black Carbon Sequestration

We all know how black carbon affects our environment, and therefore we are working on removing black carbon particles from polluted air, by the post-combustion method to achieve our goal

We are trying to capture black carbon particles (soot ) present in the air due to incomplete combustion of fuels, via using the desorption method respectively. First, there will be separation process of black carbon from air pollutants will be performed, In which we will capture the black carbon particles using the desorption method. After all, processes are done, we will achieve approximately 90-95% of clean air and about 90% of black carbon particles from polluted air as a bi-product that will be stored. We are not only purifying the air but also collecting black carbon for commercial uses like in dry cell batteries, tires manufacturing, and also as fertilizers in the agriculture sector.

Global warming phenomenon of increasing average air temperature near the earth surface over the past few centuries. According to an IPCC report given in 2013 which states that from 1880 to 2012, an increase in global average surface temperature of approximately 0.9 degrees Celsius has been taken into account. Human activities have been responsible for a worldwide average temperature increase of 0.8 - 1.2 degrees Celsius due to global warming. A report published by the IPCC in 2018 noted that if carbon emissions continue at their present rate, the increase in average near-surface air temperatures would reach 1.5 °C sometime between 2030 to 2052. In the artic region, Black carbon appears to cause more warming than any other agents except CO2 because of its combined heating of the artic atmosphere and the surface. Black carbon absorbs incoming solar radiation in the atmosphere and converts it to heat radiation and an indirect effect by reducing the reflectivity of snow and ice. According to world bank on pollution in India data, all of India’s 1.4 billion people (100% of the country’s population) are exposed to unhealthy levels of ambient PM 2.5 – the most harmful pollutant - emanating from multiple sources India's emissions had increased from 1.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide per capita in 2001 to 1.9 metric tons in 2019.

Our solution not only targets a specific group of the area but it's about all over the planet, we all know how our planet is affected by air pollution. Every year there is an increase in temperature and it is also a known fact that in present,  how crucial it is to tackle with this problem. In India only if we look to data given by IQAir top polluted cities in the world are mostly from India and Ghaziabad, Delhi and Noida have been affected badly. With our project, millions of lives can be saved and can provide them fresh air, on average every single day our health getting worst and worst. So not only this idea has a need but also has a future requirement.

I have been reading research papers on black carbon for a year or two. Currently, we are a team of 8 under the guidance of our professor who is helping us continuously, I've been selected by IIT Kanpur for working on a startup as they also provide funding for the development of a project.

Reading research papers and attending environmental-related webinars has helped me through surveys in recognizing our potential beneficiaries and also to estimate the impact that can be built on users through our project.

We have chosen this stage as we need to work with international experts to broaden our horizons and try to make this concept a reality. Currently, we are working with IIT Kanpur and my team only testing this product till now. We are extremely excited to work on this platform as we need really good guidance on this idea to work further. We hope we will be able to show our new concept to the world.

• We are working with existing technology:- Solid Sorbents and using a geometrically based device which will help us to achieve a centrifugal force which will extract black carbon particles from polluted air and with the help of sorption property we will capture black carbon particles.
•  We are also using sensors to monitor the number of gas particles entering our chamber and also the pressure regulator(manometer).
• Gas-particles will start separating from each other for which we will manufacture the required shape of the device which helps to create a centrifugal force inside. 
• Selection of specific material for making the device is also the need of this project. 
• A microscope will help us to see microparticles as we are dealing with such particles. 
• We will require a High Precision Gas Smog Dust Tester Detector (cryptography machines) which can detect less than PM 2.5 particles.

1. We expect to positively affect as many people as we can through our project.

Our primary target is to setup our project in polluted parts of India (like New Delhi) and capture as much black carbon as we are able to, then slowly and steadily increase the location and quantity throughout the country and the whole world.

2. If we setup our project in a highly polluted as well as populated area then we expect to create an impact on hundreds or thousands of people on daily basis.

With this, the lives of people will be greatly affected because they will have much cleaner air to breathe which may reduce the number of respiratory problems/diseases.   

Our team and our project's primary goal is to create a better world for both the environment and people living on earth by trying to reduce as much as excess black carbon possibly from the air. It will not only help in reducing global warming but also the captured black carbon can be used elsewhere which will reduce the demand for raw materials for production in many industrial goods resulting in even less carbon emission.

Our project will be divided into multiple phases 

1.  In the first stage of our plan we would like to setup our project mainly in regions that have a very poor quality of air and the regions where we can reach without any difficulties like the areas near New Delhi which are highly polluted and have very bad AQI score. The population in that area has breathing air been considered Hazardous for breathing for many years. 
2.  In our next phase we will sell our collected black carbon to factories that use black carbon particles as a primary material for production/manufacturing which will result in lowering of prices.
3.  In the third phase we will monitor the amount of impact we have created in reducing black carbon from the air through statistical data that we will collect with the help of Artificial intelligence and IOT and enhance the project for a worldwide scale level.

The indicators that we are planning to use for our project are

1. Good health and well-being of people by reducing pollutants from the air and giving them a better quality of air to breathe.

2. climatic actions:- By reducing the excess amount of carbon in the air we are trying to reduce the scale of global warming.

3. Responsible consumption and production:- The bi-product of our project is black carbon particle which can be used as raw material for many things with which we will be reducing the demand for raw materials.

4. By supplying the bi-product black carbon particles we will be fulfilling some of the industrial demands. 

Barriers currently exist for us to accomplish our goals in the next year are the financial barrier. As we're students we don't have any financial support to continue our project for next year. And for manufacturing our device model is also a barrier for us, as it was nearly impossible to find any industry who can manufacture our model.

We all are from an engineering background from different domains and have worked on various projects in past, some of them are new in work 30%, and the rest of 70% have experience for such challenges. They all give their best to enhance the idea. Many have showcased their past idea at their school level.

1. Sidhant Kumar Nishad (Leader): I worked on innovation project since I was in the sixth standard, I had gone to District level in innovation project showcased in 11th standard, have public speaking experience and recently I and my team ( Deepshika and Amit verma) got the position in top 3 startup idea at IIT Kanpur by Startup innovation and Incubation Center, currently pursuing Bachelor of technology with Electrical Engineering 24 batch.
2. Deepshika                   (Final year, Electrical engineering)
3. Amit Yadav                 ( Second year, Electrical engineering)
4. Shivansh Shukla          ( second year, Information technology)
5. Mohd kaif                   ( second year, Information technology)
6. Amit Verma                (Second year, Electrical engineering)
7. Diksha Singh               (First Year, Electrical engineering)
8. Akash Kumar Patel      (Final Year, Mechanical Engineering)
9. Dr. Matsyendra Nath Shukla, Completed their Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali.

 Startup Innovation and Incubation Centre of IIT Kanpur organization is our current partner with us, they were looking for development of our project but due to covid-19, it is on hold now.

The Pozen Social Innovation Prize to advance our solution as follows

• we will be using artificial intelligence, IoT, and GPS mapping for more real-time-based work through our project.
• GPS: With the help of GPS we can track the weather condition of that area where our project install,  so that in case of rainy weather it behaves accordingly.
• Artificial intelligence: The device automatically detects how much power is required to perform better and also analysis the area conditions.
• IoT: We will be able to monitor our project from one place. in the case of black carbon collection, it will indicate.
• Our plan is to collect the best quality of black carbon with the help of technology.