The air pollution in Belgrade is one of the worst cases seen around the world. The city is said to be home to large coal plants which doesn’t help the air pollution present there. A higher level of air pollution also means a higher level of dirt particles in the air. These particles can lead to people getting infected and suffering from various respiratory illnesses. This is why the city has gone ahead with the installation of Liquid Trees. Developed by Dr Ivan Spasojevic, PhD in Biophysical Science, the bioreactor was installed first in Belgrade in September 2021. There is proof that the tank can survive in winter and can be maintained easily.
The Liquid trees are tanks with six hundred litres of water and microalgae; also called bioreactors in technical terms. They work like trees, where microalgae bind carbon dioxide and produce pure oxygen through photosynthesis. The bioreactors installed in Serbia also have benches and power outlets for charging mobile phones. There is a reason why Liquid Trees became famous on social media. It is easy to label them as futuristic because they are transparent glass tanks filled with green liquid with light illuminating from within. This is why it might be scary to look at such a device.
But, the devices are actually made for a positive purpose. They are designed in such a way that they can control the air quality and work in Urban cities. Each tank contains 600 litres of water and the microalgae are grown within it. It uses carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and goes through the whole process of photosynthesis only to produce oxygen. It is said that one LIQUID3 bioreactor is equal to a 10-year-old adult tree. This means that now we don’t have to wait for the trees to grow, instead we can install the bioreactors which is a faster process and can get on with the processing of polluted air without any delay.
These devices are solar-powered, which means they take energy from the sun just like trees. And when the sun is not out during winter months, the built-in lighting in the device helps the continuation of photosynthesis even without any natural light. Bioreactors also help in cleaning the air as they have a pump which sucks in polluted air to feed the algae. But other than being bioreactors they help the citizens by also having benches and a power outlet for charging their mobile phones.
Of course, there were concerns regarding the device. Especially with the way they function like trees. It has people believe that they were made to replace trees altogether. But in reality, these bioreactors are meant to co-exist with trees. They are designed to be placed in places where trees can’t be grown. The functioning of the bioreactor is also much more efficient than trees. The microalgae in bioreactors work far better than trees and other plants because they are 10 to 15 times faster than trees in removing CO2. The microalgae don’t even go to waste as much as they can be used as fertilizer once they grow.
