China Fires 'Mist Cannon' To Fight Air Pollution

As smog continued to blanket Beijing and many cities in China, engineers pressed in pollution-fighting artillery called “mist canon”, a large machine mounted on a truck that sprays water to dilute the haze. The machines were initially used at construction sites and mines to reduce dust. Now engineers have improved the machines to make them release tinier droplets of mist for combating fine airborne particles, said Xu Yuexin, an engineer with Beijing Capital Group Boom sound Environment Science & Technology Co Ltd. the truck works by nebulising water into tiny particles, with diameter in microns, the same as PM 2.5 and PM 10 and spraying them into the air. Then they combine with dust and fine particles to fall to the ground. Experts have found the mist canons have their limits. They are the only one of the measures being taken. In October, China deployed the world’s largest outdoor air purifier designed by a Dutch engineer in Beijing to combat smog. The capital issued its second-highest warning against air pollution, an orange alert, on 1 December. The mist cannon trucks are being used to spray in the mornings, and do so more frequently, some three to five times, during smoggy days. Authorities also spray special chemicals on the roads through regular watering vehicles once a week. The spray absorbs and consolidates the dust and pollutants from vehicle exhaust.