The Algal Tree experimental facility is installed on the Jean-Jaurès alleys.

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B. Colin / 20 Minutes

  • A Toulouse start-up has deployed the “Algal tree” on the Jean-Jaurès alleys, an experimental device to fight against pollution.

  • This structure works with microalgae and helps purify the air.

If it doesn't really have the head of a tree, it does.

The people of Toulouse have seen a strange street furniture grow in recent days on the alleys of Jean-Jaurès.

On closer inspection, what might pass for a designer column is in fact an innovative device.

The Algal tree is an experiment whose objective is to fight against global warming and pollution, thanks to micro-algae that can be seen bubbling.

“Microalgae have the ability to sequester carbon.

In this pilot device, the air is sucked in from the bottom, it rises in a fine bubble and it is there that it mixes with the microalgae.

They capture pollutants and carbon dioxide particles and convert them into oxygen, this is photosynthesis.

Then the purified air is rejected, ”explains Vinh Ly, the president and founder of the start-up Kyanos, which created the tree installed at least until spring.

In the center of Ramblas-Jardin Jean-Jaurès, the start-up #Kyanos Biotechnologies has just installed an "algal tree" capable of # cleaning up the # surrounding air… Explanations ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/LzF6AyppzJ

- Toulouse Métropole (@TlseMetropole) September 17, 2020

According to the calculations of this company specializing in microalgae, this tree should be able to treat and purify 200,000 m3 of air per year.

It would also be able to sequester as much carbon as 100 trees, or the emissions produced over 10,000 km by a new car, or one tonne of CO2.

"We plan to plant 100,000 trees in the next ten years",

But since it is a pilot device, sensors will be deployed on the ramblas to confirm the effectiveness of the system and deploy it on a larger scale.

“It is important to pursue what comes from innovation combined with ecology in the city.

Some time ago we inaugurated the urban canopy to fight against heat islands.

We also plan to plant 100,000 trees in the next ten years, ”explains Jean-Luc Moudenc, president of Toulouse Métropole who supports the Algal tree as part of the Smart City.

The project also gathered the opinion of local residents who made it evolve.

By asking, for example, that it be dressed in wooden benches or that plants, nourished by micro-algae, adorn it.

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  • Air quality

  • Pollution

  • Toulouse

  • Planet

  • Algae