Workers at an Indian start-up company are busy cutting up pieces of metal and using them to make unusual devices. Company officials say these devices will capture smoke from diesel generators and automobiles and turn it into ink. Young engineers believe the technology will help to clean up the air in New Delhi, India's capital. Its air quality is among the dirtiest in the world.
Another comapny, Air-Ink, has developed a device that can be fitted onto the exhaust pipe of a car or portable generator and collected the soot that forms from burning diesel fuel. By mixing the fine black powder with solvents, they produced ink that then went into bottles and markers. They say Air-Ink has a dual benefit: "It's not just that we're recycling that material into inks. What we are also doing is replacing the carbon black that otherwise would have been used to make black inks." Manufacturers typically use the soot known as carbon black in rubber, ink, paints, and carbon paper.
"At the beginning, I thought, 'It's just another gimmick,'" says Kristopher Ho, an artist based in Hong Kong who was one of the early testers. "But after I tried the markers, I realized they are actually pretty good." He says the markers are thicker than traditional ink, which makes them perfect for painting.
