Web Desk
Pakistan has installed its first locally designed and fabricated smog cleaning tower in its eastern city of Lahore to combat years old problem of smog during the winter season. Lahore is the second smog hit city in South Asia to have smog tower after New Delhi, the Indian capital city.
Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers designed to reduce pollution by filtering out fine particulate matter (PM) and other harmful pollutants. Using fans, the towers draw in polluted air, which passes through high-efficiency filters to capture PM2.5 and PM10 particles. The cleaned air is then released back into the surrounding area, improving local air quality.
While smog towers offer potential short-term relief, their efficacy in addressing large-scale urban air pollution remains debated.
“Pakistan’s first locally designed Smog Cleaning Tower installed in Lahore,” Imran Hamid Sheikh, the Director General of provincial environmental protection department said said “A 15-day field test will be conducted to assess its performance for further installations.”
The smog tower, located in Mehmood Booti, is capable of purifying 50,000 cubic meters of air per hour and is designed to reduce harmful PM2.5 particulate matter.
Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, suffers from severe air pollution during the winter, largely due to the phenomenon of smog. A combination of vehicle emissions, industrial output and crop burning in Punjab contributes to hazardous levels of fine particulate matter, with the city often topping global rankings for poor air quality.
Smog towers can create localized zones of improved air quality, especially in high-density urban areas. However, they are expensive to build and maintain, with limited coverage areas.
