Interiors from a virus-free and pollution-free vantage  

Among the numerous challenges that businesses and organisations are facing in the post-COVID-19 world, the challenge of protecting employees and customers is the supreme concern, says Ravi Kaushik, CEO at AiRTH which is currently focusing on removal of microbial contaminants from the air to safeguard people against airborne disease transmission.

The IIT-Bombay alumnus further writes:

Almost a year ago, the notion of working from home seemed like a fascination blended with certain parts of uncertainty. Organisations all over the world have surely taken lessons from this large-scale work-from-home practice that became a norm over the months.

Now with the reopening of the economy, businesses, organisations, and other public settings need to ponder upon the existence and functioning of working and living spaces from a virus-free and pollution-free perspective. While re-establishing the businesses and co-existing spaces is at the top of the priority list, employee and customer health and safety is an equivalent too. Enhanced and monitored hygiene practices, reliable protection devices, and systematic management can help deal with the issue at hand.

Certainly, in the current phase of the global pandemic, there is a huge difference between working and living spaces. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in quite clear distinctions between the two in terms of safety. The living space, on the one hand, holds lesser chances of airborne disease transmission as you are secluded from the rest of the world and remain protected within the four walls of your homes. However, fear of indoor air pollution and pathogens has increased more than ever.

Working spaces, on the other hand, have become threat-prone when you meet other people. This, to a large extent, has hampered collaborative working leading to reduced productivity of employees and a decrease in revenue of organisations.

Indoor spaces possess higher chances of airborne disease transmission due to the accumulation of pathogens in the air. Ventilation, as matter of fact, can be a possible solution. But the unattended question remains intact. Are we up for exposing ourselves to long-term health effects due to air pollution?

Therefore, clean and pathogen-free air will become a value proposition in the future. Sure, we can spot various air purifiers in the market that claim to protect from air pollution. However, they can become a source of airborne disease transmission due to the growth of pathogens inside these air purifiers. To solve this problem, the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay has developed "Anti-Microbial Air Purifier" using patent filed "SAVE (Sanitizer for Airborne Virus Elimination) Technology" to protect from air pollutants as well as pathogens in the air by real-time deactivation.

These antimicrobial air purifiers by AiRTH function on the DCD (Deactivate-Capture-Deactivate) mechanism. It first deactivates the airborne pathogens via inflight deactivation followed by capturing of viruses and fine particles. Then deactivation of airborne and trapped pathogens takes place by providing sufficient residence time and exposure within the antimicrobial air purifier. Lastly, clean and pathogen-free air is given out into the indoor space.

With support from SIIC, IIT Kanpur, AiRTH deployed its antimicrobial air purifiers at various organisations like offices and co-working spaces during the peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The technology, proudly developed in India, is resolved to enable businesses and organisations to revive in the post-Covid world. With a larger picture added to its roadmap, AiRTH is doing its part to rebuild the economy and allow the common people, the mainstay of our country, to resume their normal work lives by giving them a safe workspace.