Context

JClean Weather Technologies, an incubatee company in Pune's Scitech Park has developed a new technology under the Nidhi Prayas program to disinfect closed spaces and rooms.

About

• The technology, named Scitech Airon, was developed under the Nidhi Prayas program initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• It reduces the viral load of a closed space by 99.7 percent within an hour, depending on the room size.
• The machine can be used to disinfect spaces which have been occupied by coronavirus patients ensuring that the doctors, nurses and other care staff in quarantine facilities do not catch the virus.
• The technology also increases the body's resistance to external factors for 20-30 days.
• It is capable of killing a range of viruses, bacteria and fungal infections and can disinfect a room from several allergens.
• It also decomposes pollutants like Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide and volatile gaseous organic compounds.
  
  

  NIDHI-PRAYAS Program: NIDHI-PRAYAS is National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovation PRomoting and Accelerating Young and ASpiring Innovators & startups. This program allows the innovators to try their ideas without fear of failure, hence allowing them to reach a stage where they have a ready product and are willing to approach incubators for commercialization.

How does it work?

• The device works by generating approximately a hundred million negative ions every eight seconds.
  • The negative ions generated by the ionizer forms clusters around microparticles such as airborne mold, influenza viruses or coronaviruses, and render them inactive.
• The ions trigger a chemical reaction by creating highly reactive OH groups called hydroxyl radicals, which act like ‘atmospheric detergents’.
• The same way in which soap and water help disintegrate the outer lipid layer of the coronavirus, these ‘atmospheric detergents’ help break down the outer protein of the allergens, viruses and bacteria.
• The device can also clean up the air and disinfect quarantine facilities, and help better protect medical staff against infection.