Address the pollution problem
When air pollution in India is discussed, attention is usually focused on outdoor environments—smog-filled city skies, traffic emissions, and industrial pollution. Far less attention is given to the air people breathe indoors, even though Indians spend a majority of their time inside homes, schools, clinics, and small offices. In many Indian indoor environments, pollutant concentrations can be comparable to or even higher than outdoor levels. Cooking emissions, dust resuspension, volatile organic compounds from household products, inadequate ventilation, and biological contaminants all contribute to poor indoor air quality, making it an emerging but under-addressed public health concern.
Commercial air purifiers are available in the Indian market, but their adoption remains limited. Most systems are expensive, energy-intensive, and dependent on frequent replacement of imported HEPA filters. In Indian conditions—characterized by high dust loads, variable humidity, and intermittent power supply—these purifiers often perform below expectation, with filters clogging quickly and operating costs rising sharply. As a result, such technologies remain inaccessible for a large segment of the population, particularly in non-metropolitan households and public institutions such as schools, anganwadis, and primary healthcare centers.
Enviroforge: Innovative affordable air purification
This gap persuaded Rohan Kumar, a PhD research scholar at IIT Bombay to develop an alternative indoor air purification system that is affordable as well. The aim was not to replicate high-end international products, but to rethink air purification from an Indian perspective. Instead of prioritizing lab-grade performance, the focus was on affordability, low energy consumption, and ease of maintenance in real-world conditions.
Enviroforge is an indoor air purification system that is tailored specifically to Indian realities. Instead of adapting international designs, the innovation draws inspiration from nature-based filtration principles and decentralized environmental technologies. The focus is on affordability, sustainability, and long-term usability rather than high-end specifications suited to controlled laboratory conditions.
The Enviroforge system is a low-cost, eco-friendly indoor air purifier that combines layered, regenerable filtration media with minimal active airflow. By reducing dependence on disposable synthetic filters, the system lowers lifetime operating costs and simplifies maintenance. Its design allows for prolonged daily operation while consuming significantly less energy than conventional air purifiers, making it suitable for settings where continuous electricity supply cannot be assumed.
At the core of Enviroforge is a bio-physical air purification approach (patent pending) that integrates multiple mechanisms to reduce particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, microbial contaminants, and odors without generating harmful by-products. Rather than relying on dense, high-resistance filters, the system uses low-resistance filtration layers that are easier to clean or regenerate, maintaining airflow efficiency even in dusty indoor environments. The modular design also allows the purifier to be adapted to different room sizes and occupancy patterns common in Indian homes and institutions.
High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are widely regarded as the gold standard for particulate removal, but their limitations become apparent in Indian conditions. Frequent filter replacement due to rapid clogging increases both cost and electronic waste. Additionally, HEPA-based systems require powerful fans to push air through dense filter media, resulting in higher electricity consumption and noise levels.
Enviroforge competes with these systems not by attempting to replicate laboratory-grade filtration, but by offering a context-appropriate alternative that balances performance with affordability, energy efficiency, and ease of maintenance. Unlike HEPA-based purifiers that focus primarily on particulate removal, Enviroforge follows a multi-mechanism approach that also addresses gaseous pollutants and biological contaminants without adding complex or energy-intensive subsystems. By relying on locally available materials and decentralized maintenance practices, the system reduces dependence on imported consumables and aligns better with India’s sustainability and self-reliance goals.
The Enviroforge innovation is particularly relevant for Indian schools, clinics, and middle-income households where cost sensitivity and durability are decisive factors. At the same time, the use of regenerable filtration media helps reduce waste generation and long-term environmental impact. While periodic maintenance is required to ensure consistent performance, the simplicity of the system makes it manageable with basic user awareness. However, market acceptability is yet to be tested since the company has not released the product for commercial deployment.
Indoor air pollution is increasingly recognized as a serious health and environmental challenge in India. Enviroforge demonstrates how frugal, nature-based innovation can provide a practical pathway toward healthier indoor environments without relying on expensive, imported technologies. By rethinking air purification through an Indian lens, the innovation offers an accessible and sustainable alternative for improving indoor air quality at scale.
