An MIT Media Lab spinoff, Graviky Labs of Bangalore, India, invented a device that captures vehicular soot and converts it into AIR-INK, which the developer says is a safe, high-quality ink for art.

Diagram of the KAALINK soot-capturing system.KAALINK, a post-tailpipe retrofit, is a mechatronic system which consists of electrostatic and other filtration equipment, sensors, and a capture unit. The device captures 95% of particular matter pollution without inducing back-pressure (see video).

The captured soot contains toxic impurities, such as heavy metals and volatile organic compounds. These are removed by chemical processes including gravity based separation for high-mass particles, comminution, and catalyzed activation. The recovered soot is taken through a grinding process to render a consistent particle size, equivalent to a commercial ink pigment.

Several grades of AIR-INK with different applications have already been created – 2 and 15mm round tip, 30 and 50mm chisel markers, and screen printing ink.

It takes 45 minutes’ worth of vehicular emissions captured by the KAALINK to produce one fluid ounce of ink, sufficient to fill one pen.