Pi Green Innovations: Filtering air without a filter

Pi Green's 'Filterless' solution ensures that PM is captured consistently without significant deterioration in the efficiency throughout the product life cycle. The idea is to capture PM and reuse the soot in various other applications

By Benu Joshi Routh

Published: May 25, 2022 01:01:23 PM IST

Updated: May 26, 2022 12:51:15 PM IST

Shantanu Sonaikar (left), co-founder, with Irfan Pathan, co-founder and CEO

Multiple startups are applying innovation to address various aspects of sustainability and pollution, and creating new-age products with multiple use cases. Read about some key companies here.

Besides leaving a big environmental footprint, conventional filter-based or water-based technologies have proved to be ineffective to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions over time. Pi Green’s ‘Filterless’ solution ensures that PM is captured consistently without significant deterioration in the efficiency throughout the product life cycle. The idea is to capture PM and reuse the soot in various other applications.

Invented by co-founder Rizwan Shaikh, this technology was rated as one of the best technologies globally to reduce air pollution, at Smogathon 2018 Poland, with patents granted in the US, the UK, and 26 countries in Europe. It also won the UNDP Air Pollution Solution Challenge in 2019 and India Clean Air Challenge in 2022.

“We see a huge lack of awareness about the environment when it comes to the public and corporates,” says Shantanu Sonaikar, co-founder of Pi Green Innovations.

“Unfortunately, the environment does not feature in the list of top priorities for Indian corporates. For any environmental initiative to scale, there needs to be substantial commitment of resources that cannot be achieved without participation from the private sector.” We need commitment from all stakeholders to reverse the damage, he adds.

With installations all over India, Pi Green is engaging with the government for identification of sources of air pollution, and presenting solutions. “We appreciate the government intervention through implementation of some steps suggested by the National Clean Air Program, such as installation of Retrofit Emission Control Device on diesel generators,” says Irfan Pathan co-founder and CEO. “We are helping the initiative by providing technology that is compliant with government norms.”

He says, “Air pollution is a bigger problem than most of us perceive it to be. It takes over 7 million lives annually. We need to focus on developing efficient, cost effective, scalable solutions so that adoption is accelerated.”