Dutch inventors have unveiled what they called the world’s first giant outdoor air vacuum cleaner – a large purifying system intended to filter out toxic tiny particles from the atmosphere surrounding the machine.

“It’s a large industrial filter about 8 meters long, made of steel ... placed basically on top of buildings and it works like a big vacuum cleaner,” said Henk Boersen, a spokesman for the Envinity Group that unveiled the system in Amsterdam.

The system is said to be able to suck in air from a 300-meter radius and from up to 7 kilometers upwards.

It could treat some 800,000 cubic meters of air an hour, filtering out 100 percent of fine particles and 95 percent of ultra-fine particles, the company said, referring to tests carried out by the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) on its prototype.

A large column of air will pass through the filter and come out clear, Boersen told AFP last week, speaking on the sidelines of a major two-day offshore energy conference in Amsterdam.

Fine particles are caused by emissions from burning wood and other fuels as well as industrial combustion, and have adverse effects on health, according to the European Environment Agency.

About 90 percent of EU residents are exposed to levels of such particles that can be carcinogenic above those recommended by the World Health Organization.

As for ultra-fine particles, they are released by emissions from vehicles as well as aeroplanes, according to Envinity, and can damage the nervous system, including brain cells, and also cause infections.

Governments, businesses and airports were already interested in the project, Boersen said.

Another air-purifying system called the Smog Free Tower was installed in Beijing in September and launched by the Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde.

Using patented ozone-free ion technology, it is said to clean up to 30,000 cubic meters of air an hour as it blows past the tower, collecting more than 75 percent of the harmful particles, according to Studio Roosegaarde.

荷兰发明家发布了据他们所说是世界上第一台户外巨型真空吸尘器 —— 一台旨在过滤周遭空气中有毒微粒的巨型空气过滤器。

“这是一台大型钢质工业过滤器，约八米长，一般来说放在建筑顶部，工作原理就和真空吸尘器一样。”在阿姆斯特丹发布此过滤系统的安飞尼迪集团发言人亨克•波尔森说。

该系统据说能过滤半径300米范围

内，上至七千米高度范围内的空气。

安飞尼迪称，参照荷兰能源研究中心对他们的原型机做的测试，该系统能过滤大气中100%的细颗粒和95%的超细颗粒，每小时能处理约80万立方米空气。

“一大管空气可以经过过滤器随后净身而出。”波尔森上周于阿姆斯特丹举行的海洋能源会议的间隙告诉法新社记者。此次会议为期两天。

欧洲环境局称，细颗粒由燃烧木材、其它燃料以及工业燃烧产生，对人体健康有害。

大约90%的欧盟居民会吸入这些致癌颗粒物，吸入量超过了世界卫生组织的推荐标准。安飞迪尼称，超细颗粒来自于汽车、飞机尾气，会“损害包括脑细胞在内的神经系统，还会引起感染”。

波尔森说，已经有政府、企业和机场表示对这个项目感兴趣。

另一个叫做雾霾净化塔的空气过滤系统9月份在北京落成，由荷兰艺术家达安•罗斯嘉德设计。

罗斯嘉德工作室表示，雾霾净化塔使用独家无臭氧离子技术，每小时能净化3万立方米的塔周空气，过滤掉超过75%的有害颗粒。(Chinadaily.com.cn)

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

   【过滤】guòlǜ filter remove by passing through a filter

    【致癌的】zhì’ái de carcinogenic causing or tending to cause cancer