Air-purifying concrete for town of Hengelo

Hengelo, Overijssel looks to be taking a rather unique approach to cleaning the air, with it now testing out a new type of “air-purifying concrete” developed by the University of Twente that promises to soak up the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhausts. This is done with the aid of a titanium dioxide-based additive which, with the help of some sunlight, binds with the nitrogen oxide particles and turns them into harmless nitrates, which can apparently just wash away with the next rain shower. Hengelo is not fully sold on the idea just yet, with it only paving half of a road now under construction with these “green bricks”, while the other half is getting paved with plain old concrete. They will then take some air measurements from each section early next year and decide whether to continue paving the town green or not.

(Link: engadget.com)

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 9:34 am and is filed under Dutch first, Science, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: concrete, environment, Hengelo, Overijssel