Delhi teenager earns Diana Award for low-cost classroom air filter
Krish Aggarwal's Project Vayu has reached 10,000 schoolchildren by turning ordinary fans into air purifiers.
A Delhi teenager, Krish Aggarwal, has earned a place on the 2026 Diana Award Roll of Honour for developing a low-cost air filter through his initiative, Project Vayu, according to the Times of India.
Aggarwal co-founded Project Vayu with Samarth Meattle to address indoor air pollution in schools. The project also acknowledges the early contribution of Savya Meattle, who helped establish the original direction before leaving to study at Stanford University.
The filter attaches to existing wall or table fans using an elastic lining and can be installed in less than a minute without tools. It uses electrostatically charged fibres to capture fine particulate matter, including PM2.5.
The team worked with Hollingsworth & Vose, a global filtration manufacturer, to develop the filter using electret media. The company supplied 700 metres of filter media for the initiative.
Project Vayu reported that a closed-room test in a 168 square foot room saw PM2.5 levels fall from 158 micrograms per cubic metre to 11 micrograms per cubic metre after 60 minutes. This represents a reduction of more than 90 per cent.
Each filter costs approximately ₹140 to make, but the team supplies them to schools free of charge. Following a pilot that covered 295 classrooms and 602 filters, the team is preparing to expand to 45 more schools across New Delhi.