Treepex Device — How does it work
When we released the video of our revolutionary gadget Treepex, we tried to explain how it works in only 2 minutes. But it’s obviously not enough time to go into all the details. The device, which garnered quite some media attention, is the first-ever pocket-device, which transforms polluted air into clean, fresh air. So, how do we do it?
What it consist of
Now, we immediately jump into the technical specs. Bare with me.
As you may know, the most important part of our device is the cartridge. The airflow, when you breath through the device, goes through the block composition of the cartridge.The block consists of individual types of modules, cleaning the air in a so-called passive and active process.
First, the air is mechanically filtered from the solid particles, such as lead (combustion particles of tetraethyl lead), carbon (also known as soot) and smog (a slurry of a liquid-solid contaminants due to poor-quality fuel).
The active filtration process starts after the solid particles are filtered out. This is done through complex consecutive chemical reactions. And because of our innovative technological approach, these reactions consistently complement each other: a mechanically non-filterable gaseous fraction and acidic pollutants (carbon dioxide and its accompanying aggressive and toxic oxides: nitrogen and sulfur), which then cling to our alkaline biopolymer matrix.
Now, gaseous pollutants are harmful — even though you breath them in every day — despite the fact that the actual quantitative presence of the gaseous pollutants in the air is rather minor in technical terms. And a highly toxic component of the flue gas, such as carbon monoxide, i.e. CO, could be able to surpass our alkaline barrier — as it does not possess acidic properties. So that could mean you’d still breath in CO that slips through the barrier.
But! To counter that we use biocompatible material in the DTX2T4 compartment, which then captures the CO in the next reaction. (Figure 2)
Harmless Materials
The process we use — catalytic oxidation of poisonous exhaust — is nothing new. For years the car industry has applied it on their products. But the difference is that we do not use the heavy metals the car industry does. They are not only extremely toxic, but also extremely expensive (especially platinum and palladium). Luckily, our small device is much smaller. And that is why we can use biocompatible materials instead.
And that’s not all. To transform carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide (CO₂), it needs one more step to regenerate oxygen.
Regenerating pure oxygen from exhaled carbon dioxide was invented a few decades ago for submarines, spacecrafts, personal protective equipment and and portable air tanks (so-called closed aeration systems). This works as following: by using superoxides and the ozonides of alkali metal, the carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be transformed into oxygen (O₂). (Figure 1).
Our bio-organic process transforms any leftover amount of carbon dioxide into pure oxygen. As with high-power catalysts based on unwanted components for individual use, we no longer need the technology of mass oxygen regeneration. And that’s how you get really fresh air without any carbon dioxide present!
Our technology basically imitates the natural process to get clean air. And especially during rush hour and in polluted urban environments, that is exactly what you’d need. [1]. And plants do not merely regenerate oxygen, it’s rather a by-product supplying itself with continuing growth. That is why in our active METAFRESH unit, we only use the process that actually generates oxygen[2].
You may perhaps think that there is too much carbon dioxide in the air to be able to filter with our device. But since it is only 0.032% of the volume in the case of clean air and an average of 0.045% in the case of polluted city air, the difference between the two is only 0.013%. And that is, of course, a challenge we can easily take.
PS: And did you know Treepex could also be used for medical procedures, such as halotherapy and other inhalation therapies by adding low concentration essential oils to the cartridge?
[1] The device does not only remove toxic pollutants, but also has an automatic mechanism to understand the quantity of carbon monoxide. This process happens in our METAFRESH unit right after the air mass is neutralized from the CO. One of our innovative approaches includes the light-independent reactions of the Calvin cycle. The source of energy, instead of light, is obtained from catalytic oxidation of CO in previous stages. And that creates a feedback link between the existing CO and the necessary O₂ which needs to be obtained.
Our photon-lacking synthesis uses the dark stages sequence of the reactions chain (analogue of C₃-photosynthesis). C₃ — unlike other known mechanisms — is the least light demanding. And, more importantly, handles larger volumes of carbon dioxide than any other known pathway, such as C₄ and CAM. (C₃ occurs mainly among flora in temperate climates, and originated in the Mesozoic and Paleozoic, long before C₄ plants appeared, while C₄ is a plant in warm and hot regions with greater insolation, with a completely dry CAM).
[2] With recent developments in biochemistry and molecular biology we can now use the culture of living cells obtained through DNA modification from natural samples. This is called the CRISPR technology. We use CRISPR as a handling medium in our METAFRESH units. Carbon dioxide is initially completely absorbed by our basic non-regenerating Alkaline Filter unit. After this, the CRISPR medium transforms only the internal carbon dioxide (a very small quantity formed in the process of detoxification of carbon monoxide). A small amount of air — and vice versa — will be spoiled, but this is completely safe and can’t be felt.
