About 1.7 million Indians face premature deaths due to air pollution every year. Solving the ambient air pollution of Delhi requires a reduction of emissions at the source. This requires informed, evidence-based effective policymaking. The real-time monitoring instruments in the air pollution lab in the Institute can help us quantify the effect of policies in a short time and guide legislations.
Recently, the Grand Challenge air pollution project at IIT Delhi allowed us to procure next-generation automated PM2.5 physico-chemical characterization equipment that provides continuous real-time data and is more accurate than the conventional human-intervention based methods. These state-of-the-art instruments allow us to infer the likely contribution of various emission sources to Delhi’s extreme pollution levels using advanced statistical models.
We presently need funding support in the following two areas:
Financial support for consumables and recurring technical support for the already deployed equipment is needed to continuously apportion the sources of Delhi-NCR’s PM2.5. We also need support for further advanced instrumentation to bolster our present analytical capabilities. Continuous source apportionment is a technology we have already demonstrated and published in top environmental science journals. Continuous knowledge of the most polluting sources can help evaluate the impact of state interventions in real time, and guide future policies.
We have recently commissioned a Mobile Air Pollution Laboratory, basically a spacious transport van, installed with advanced air pollution instrumentation. The Mobile Lab will be stationed close to major pollution sources, including power plants, garbage dumps, industrial areas, stubble burning fields, waste-incineration plants, major highways, etc., to qualitatively assess their pollutant signature and the level of impact on Delhi-NCR’s air quality. This is a novel approach designed to complement the stationary lab approach above. Support for procurement of advanced instrumentation and operational expenses is required for the Mobile Lab.
INR 1 Crore of support would guarantee continued deployment and maintenance of the above state-of-the-art facilities for the next 4-5 years. INR 20 Crore of investment would be required to bolster the existing setup with new equipment.
Donor Recognition
Donor(s) to the Air Pollution Lab will be recognized suitably by naming the above laboratories and complementary units.
Contact Information
For more information visit:
https://airpollution.iitd.ac.in/index.html
Prof Mayank Kumar – kmayank@mech.iitd.ac.in
Prof Vikram Singh – vs225@chemical.iitd.ac.in
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