“Our parents’ generation grew up with the promise of an exciting future, current generations have grown up with the promise of a bleak future — one filled with grey skies due to polluted air… Praan is our attempt at rebuilding the atmosphere by capturing polluting greenhouse gases using a novel technology.” greenhouse gases using a novel technology.” This is how the ‘About’ section on its website introduces Praan Inc, a Mumbai-based startup, which has 25-year-old Angad Daryani as its founder and CEO..

Daryani has not started now. He has been doggedly building his low-cost, filterless, outdoor air purification system since 2017 while he was completing his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech University. The idea was not to introduce another air purifier in the market, but was to “democratise access to clean, healthy air.” To clean up air in all kinds of spaces — from factory floors to schools to halls and compounds. Spaces that badly need clean air but cannot be served by conventional air purifiers that need maintenance and the filter to be changed periodically.

Daryani is known to have always thought out-of-the-box and was even homeschooled as he did not gel with the rote-learning oriented curriculum in schools. Today, he has come a full circle and has his own factory in Mumbai that produces air purifiers for large factories and independent clients.

Praan’s technology

Praan offers three versions of its air purification systems — MKOne, MK II (‘Mach 2’) and HIVE. HIVE is Praan’s premium, personal product that is made of top-grade materials and is a “statement piece in a room.” The former two technologies work on similar principles: “It actively pulls in polluted air from the top, separates the particulate matter using its filterless technology, collects it in a collection tray and releases cleaner air back into the hyperlocal atmosphere through the outlets.. MKOne was designed for particulate matter concentrations of up to 1000 µg/m³ whereas the MK II manages AQI up to 40,000 µg/m³.”

MKOne is primarily for the outdoors, such as common areas in buildings and schools. MK II is designed for industrial use. Daryani found that factory floors invariably have extremely high dust volumes and pollution levels, which factory workers are forced to breathe in at their indoor workstations for long hours. The MK II, which was launched just last year, brings down pollution levels drastically and transforms the factory floor. Large companies in the food, steel and cement business are showing great interest in the product, says Daryani.

Good news for blue collared workers!

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW