China builds world's tallest air purifier - higher than Qutub Minar, Statue of Liberty

The tallest air purifier in the world has shown to clean the air in a radius of 10 square kilometres during testing.

Courtesy: Chinese Academy of Sciences

In its battle against alarmingly high pollution levels, China has a new weapon - a 330-feet tall purifier that is now dubbed the world's tallest structure dedicated to cleaning the air.

The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that the air purifier was built in Xian in Shaanxi province and is currently being tested at the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Initial experiments by researchers reportedly show a significant reduction in pollution levels over an area of 10 square kilometres with 10 million cubic metres of clean air being released every day. 

So how does the air purifying tower work?

The main operation is through greenhouse covering close to the size of a football field around the foot of the tower. Toxic air is taken into the glasshouses at the base, heated by solar energy and then made to pass through several filters before being released back. According to officials, on extremely polluted days, the tower has managed to bring down levels to 'moderate.'

While it does require solar energy, it is reported that the tower works even on cold and/or cloudy days because of a special coating on the greenhouses that enables it to absorb solar radiation.

The project was launched in 2015 and while initial tests are successful, it is expected to take time before being launched officially in other parts of the country.