Eliminating particulate matter from underground carparks in the city center of Eindhoven, Netherlands, could result in local reductions in the concentration of these pollutants of up to 50%, according to researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).

Researchers led by Bert Blocken, professor of building physics, made a highly detailed computational grid of the city center of Eindhoven, an area of 5.1 square kilometers that includes 16 underground carparks. Using air-flow models and computer simulations, the researchers calculated the separate effects that installing 99 and 594 air-purification systems in these garages would have on concentrations of particulate matter in the city center air.Using air-purification systems inside carparks could significantly decrease particulate matter in nearby areas. Image credit: Pixabay.Placing 99 air-purification systems inside the carparks would decrease particulate matter concentrations, locally, outside the carparks by up to 10%. Using 594 air-purification units, they found that a substantially larger area—up to a kilometer from the underground carparks—would see at least a 10% reduction in particulate matter. In certain locations, this reduction would reach 40% or 50%.

While the researchers concede that the simulations have limitations—the force and direction of the wind, for example, can be particularly influential—they conclude that reducing particulates in underground garages nonetheless can be an effective way of improving the air quality in a city center.

Lia van de Vorle, director at ENS Technology, the company that conceived of the idea of capturing particulate matter in underground carparks, says that by eliminating the particulate matter and ventilating clean air into the city they can act as the cleansing lungs of the city.

ENS has developed a technology that turns fine dust into coarse dust and then captures it on a grounded collection plate. Now that the TU/e study has supported the effectiveness of this concept in reducing particulate matter in adjacent areas of the city, the company is planning a pilot project in Eindhoven and, eventually, installation of air-purification systems in structures such as tunnels and train and bus stations.