“City Tree” moss is another natural air purifier to be discovered after Antarctica’s hydroxyl

01 / 08 / 2019

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The world is taking strides beyond just curbing air pollution by hunting for air purifiers. “City Tree” moss surfaced as another natural air purifier after Antarctica took the lead to find out an air purifier.

As air pollution claims the lives of seven million people every year and damages children’s development, an international team of Antarctic scientists managed to realize a breakthrough by discovering that Hydroxyl can act as a natural ‘air purifier’ by removing pollutants, such as greenhouse gases and ozone depleting chemicals.

Moving on lockstep of Antarctica’s scientists, two young men; Peter Sänger and Liang Wu, discovered “City Tree” moss which naturally filters pollutants from the air very effectively. Using remote technology, the City Tree combines this moss air purifying factor with remote technology to increase the air flow through the “trees”. This allows them to “suck up” and clean more air than normal, and the amount they filter can be increased depending on pollution levels at different times of day.

Sänger, 26, and WU, 34, said “Our patented CityTree is a moss filter with integrated ventilation, an irrigation system and sensors to capture environmental data. The moss cultures literally eat particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide out of the air—offsetting many tons of CO2 equivalents per year. We measure and test our filter in cooperation with many scientific institutions like the Institute of Air Handling and Refrigeration in Dresden to measure its efficiency. “

“Our City Trees can already be found in Norway, France, Germany, Belgium, Macedonia and Hong Kong. Our product was also temporarily deployed at many conferences, fairs and events in German cities thanks to its mobile and freestanding design,” they said.

“We have successfully manufactured and sold 50 units of the first generation of our City Tree to cities and companies across Europe. This has been a tremendous success and provided us with many valuable insights and extremely helpful data,” they said.

The German green-tech enterprise is now funded by the European Commission to set up and scientifically test a City Tree network of 15 brand new units in Berlin’s pollution hotspots next year.

“We have permanently improved and developed our technology further and as of this month our new product generation—now scalable and adaptable—is available. We hope to find the right clients and partners soon to scale up our solution so it becomes a natural component of any given building or infrastructure,” they said.

“Our moss filter can be adapted to any environment. The construction contains sensors collecting environmental and climatic data to regulate and control the unit and ensure that the moss survives. Thanks to our technical innovations and improvements, the new filter generation will require only a few hours of maintenance per year. But it will take more efforts from governments, cities corporations and each one of us to change the situation. Our solution can only be one small piece of the puzzle,” they added.

UN Environment’s Head of Freshwater, Land and Climate Branch, Tim Christophersen, said that especially in the run-up to the Climate Action Summit 2019—which will focus on climate change and cities, nature-based solutions and resilience to climate change—trees are increasingly recognized as a vital resource.

“Nature can help us overcome many human-made environmental problems, and we need creative solutions. The City Tree can be deployed in air pollution hotspots, as an interesting addition to urban trees and green spaces, which cities should also invest in.”

The world has become well-aware of the importance of taking action to address environmental issues. The World Environment Day on June 5 was held this year under the theme of “Beat Air Pollution” due to the grave danger of this phenomenon on people’s lives.