IIT Delhi Students Reduce Air Pollution With Wood Instead Of Cow Dung

Delhi, the capital of India, is now suffering greatly from toxic air, which causes air pollution to the whole city. This is the motivation for 40 India’s reputed technology institute students to discover a new method: using cow dung instead of wood.

This method is proved to be friendly to the environment. A study by a IIT Delhi team shows that it helps decrease pollution and at the same time, reduce deforestation by greatly reduce the use of wood. In the funeral process, cow dung logs will be the replacement of wood and hence, reduces the level of carbon-dioxide.

Faraz Mazhar used an initiative named 'Arth' to informTimes of India of IIT Delhi's Enactus group. It is said that no less than 400 kg of wood is used in India to make only one of India’s seven million cremations. Therefore, Shalaka Patil, also a team member, realized how necessary it is to have an alternative fuel.

Basing on the needs, the team had matched all the clues and came up with a new way to solve the two most urgent issues that Delhi has to face up with right now. Immediately after the finding of this new method, people have set up about fifty cremations at Nigambodh Ghat alone, not even mention other places. In these places, before the adaptation of the new method, farmers were struggling to find ways to safely dispose cow shelters and dairies dung.

On answering TOI, Patil said that:

In the past, farmers used to dispose cow dung into water bodies like rivers, which leads to the pollution of not only water but also the spaces on sides. Since then, Arth is created with the aim of coping with unhygienic conditions in gaushalas at the same time.

As we know it, the principle of the “green house” is to keep heat and raise the temperature inside up to 50ºC. Basing on this principle, the team has made a prototype drying machine. According to Raj, a student majored in mechanical engineering:

Last year, the team also ran a test on an unidentified body at Nigambodh Ghat. The results of the test were very positive because it showed not only the reduction in pollution but also the better and smoother facilitation process.

According to Raj, they are now under the process of producing a machine which produces more logs from cow dung. People should not also take the matter of religion too seriously as people from the old times have already used cow dung in cremation and now some villagers even use it during funerals.