By Business India Editorial

Chakr Innovations is a Delhi-based company that converts harmful pollutants and soot from diesel generators into high quality inks and paints. Its technology, Chakr Shield, captures up to 90 per cent of this particulate matter and recycles it into ink and paint thereby closing the carbon circle.

At present, Chakr has set up nearly 60-plus devices across Delhi NCR. This has resulted in a significant reduction of pm levels in the areas they are placed. The reduction in pm levels has improved visibility and reduced smog levels during winter months. Till date, Chakr Shield has captured 500 kg of particulate matter, purifying 1,800 billion litres of air, equivalent to the air necessary for almost 6 lakh individuals in one year.

Chakr Shield works on an innovative solvent-based method. It collects around 90 per cent of particulate matter emission, which is essentially black carbon. The emission then undergoes various proprietary processes that remove heavy metals and carcinogens (substances or agents that can lead to cancer). It is then converted into purified carbon-based pigment. In the final stage, the carbon is taken through another chemical process to make different types of inks and paints, further ensuring the disposal of the pollutants in the most environmentally benign way.

The device is composed of a heat exchanger which reduces the temperature of the exhaust without consuming any energy. This cooled exhaust is passed through a chamber, where the particulate matter is made to coagulate and is ultimately captured. This captured carbon is washed down by an engineered solvent which holds the soot without chemically reacting with it. This soot containing solution is then processed as ink pigment.

Each installed device will capture ~17.5 kg of pm from a 25 kVA dg, running at 80 per cent load and for 8 hours every day, over a period of 1 year. The large number of diesel generators used in India makes Chakr Shield a powerful tool to drastically reduce emissions caused by diesel.

The company was founded in 2016 by Arpit Dhupar, Kushagra Srivastava and Prateek Sachan, alumni of iit-Delhi. This young team of entrepreneurs believes that with Chakr Shield they can revolutionise pollution control and inspire similar innovations to reduce pollution in cities.