translated from Spanish: Mexican creates microalgae tower that filter air as if it were 400 trees

With the challenge of reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide the young Mexican Carlos Monroy Sampieri created a tower with microalgae filters that generates healthy air in the middle of cities.
These towers are called Biourban, which have a biofiltration system of atmospheric pollutants, which improve air quality, as if they were artificial trees.
Her startup Biomitec was the winner of the Heineken Green Challenge during the INCMtY 2018 entrepreneurship festival, organized by Tec de Monterrey.
How does it work?
They work with microalgae that capture and filter air pollutants.
By photosynthesis, algae transform carbon dioxide into oxygen and expel biomass, which can be used as compost or to make biofuel.

“A filter throws it away and pollutes it, and in this case, microalgae are something that already exists and is in the environment. That helps us make products without contamination,” says Monroy for CONNECT.
“Everything has a biological principle, that’s why we use living organisms.”
“Everything has a biological principle, that’s why we use living organisms. We are not altering the environmental footprint, we do not generate garbage or something that required a process that contaminates,” he added.

The towers have sensors that monitor air quality and are self-sustaining, as they run on solar energy.
Photo @twEl development and company
Through courses Monroy began to design and develop the technology, along with a market analysis to make it profitable and scalable.
“I had the opportunity to take a few courses at MIT in 2016 (…) there was spreading and we got the capital in 2016,” he explains. From then on the prototype began in Puebla.
Currently there are 4 models of Biourban towers:
Biourban 1.0. For indoor use.
Biurban Ashtray. For indoor use. It receives cigarette butts and biodegrades them.
Biourban 2.0. Indoor and outdoor use.
Biourban Industries. It is used only in various types of industrial boilers.
Biourban 2.0 and Biourban Industries can filter the same air as more than 360 trees, which equates to the daily breathing of 2,890 people.
The towers for indoor use are 2 meters high and 15 centimeters in diameter, while those for external and industrial use are 4 meters high and 2.75 meters in diameter.
Biomitech is in commercial stage, which began in January 2019 and already have plans for operations in conjunction with the public sector and travel abroad to promote its technology.

“We are going to spread it out in various countries. We plan to go to Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil, and we have a team in England (…) in March to Switzerland and Turkey, and soon to Asia,” Monroy said.

Biotech has made partnerships with the state government of Puebla, and installed a Biourban 2.0 in one of the roads with the most congestion in the capital of that state.

Original source in Spanish

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