Fredrik Rubensson / CC BY-SA 2.0In an effort to improve overall air quality for those living in the Chinese city of Xian, Chinese officials have recently unveiled what is thought to be the world’s largest air purifier.

Located in Xian in the Shaanxi province, the tower is still being tested by researchers from the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“The tower has no peer in terms of size…the results are quite encouraging,” said Cao Junji, the head of research for the air purifier.

According to the team of researchers, air quality in a 10-square kilometer (approximately a 3.9-square mile) section of Xian improved thanks to the tower. Yet, this information comes just one day after Shanxi and other regions reported some of the highest air pollution readings in recent months, even breaking the pattern of improved readings reported by Beijing, Tianjin and 26 other cities in the northern regions of China that had declined in pollution levels by over 33 percent at the end of last year.

"By noon on Monday, the air quality index for the city of Linfen had shot up to 428, according to the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre’s real-time data," the South China Morning Post reported. "The number refers to the concentration of small, breathable and toxic particles known as PM2.5. Smog levels above 300 are considered dangerous and the scale tops out at 500."

Cao believes that the air purification tower could help reduce those high numbers, cutting smog on the worst pollution-filled days to almost moderate levels.

“It barely requires any power input throughout daylight hours. The idea has worked very well in the test run,” he said.

The tower isn’t the only weapon in China’s war on pollution, smog and overall emissions. China is also attempting to improve national air quality by covering nearly a quarter of its total land area in trees. Additionally, the country is exploring other measures to improve air quality such as industrial restructuring and upgrading technology.

The Chinese government has not yet commented on whether it plans to duplicate the air purification towers throughout the country.