Chinese scientists develop technology to combat smog

China 24

The persistent problem of smog in China may now have a promising solution, thanks to new technology developed by China’s Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

CGTN’s Frances Kuo reports.

To know how it works, one have to understand the make-up of smog – which is essentially fog weighed down by smoke and other pollutants in the air.

It can come from many sources, including power plants and exhaust from cars.

The new technology targets the so-called “p-m two-point-five” particles in smog, named for how wide they are, each just 2.5 micrometers in diameter.

Because they’re so small, researchers came up with a process to bind the particles together in clumps, making them large enough for a filter to trap them.

Exactly how small are these particles? Several thousand of them could fit in the period of this sentence. Their width is about 30 times smaller than that of a human hair.

It’s their size that makes them especially dangerous. They’re able to travel into the lungs and cause irritation. Long-term exposure may lead to lung cancer and heart disease.