India has the world's worst air pollution. Home to 22 of the world's 30 most polluted cities, India's toxic air kills more than one million people each year.
The smoggy air cloaking India's cities often contains dangerously high levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5. These pollutants have been linked to lung and heart disease, and are known to impair cognitive functions and the immune system. PM2.5 air pollution caused around 54,000 premature deaths in New Delhi in 2020, according to analysis by Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Fired by his own experience of the effects of air pollution on his health, Daryani is one of a growing number of entrepreneurs hoping to clean up India's skies. His solution is to capture the soot and other polluting particles in containers so it can be turned into something useful like building tiles.
While studying engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, Daryani designed an outdoor purification system that removes particulate matter and other pollutants from the air. The device sucks in the polluting particles and collects them in a container, leaving clean air in its place.
After designing his first device, Daryani launched the start-up Praan in 2017 with the aim of building an affordable and versatile outdoor air purifier.
Praan's goal is to design the world's first filterless purifier that can clean as much air as possible, while fitting onto infrastructure.
The carbon captured in the containers is given to another Indian company called Carbon Craft Design, which uses the powdered pollutants to create stylish, handcrafted decorative flooring tiles
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