JEDDAH: The best way to avoid airborne infections is not to breathe — an impractical idea. The alternative is to breathe pure air free of the viruses and spores that cause dangerous or annoying infections or allergies. Once again, breathing pure air that isn’t tainted by these microscopic invaders is practically impossible to achieve in the normal course of life.
Particularly dangerous are areas where large numbers of people gather in close proximity to each other for days at a time; in Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mosque in Makkah is a case in point.
This concentration of people provides an environment where airborne infections can and do transfer from person to person with ease. The potential for the spread of infections, or even an epidemic, is enormous. The global swine flu pandemic has raised the concern about infectious diseases at this year’s Haj to a new level.
However, the business end of the commonplace microwave oven has helped provide an ingenious solution to the problem of airborne viruses, at least in enclosed places.
After 14 years, including intensive testing by some of the most critical and skeptical authorities in the world (including the China Academy of Science and the Pasteur Institute in France), the attentions of Nobel laureates and researchers and an investment of 45 million euros, a device developed by Askair, a Swiss High Tech company headed by Jean-Michel Beaudouin, has provided an elegant solution.
“It is such a simple process,” said Beaudouin, speaking to Arab News in the first press interview he has ever given on the device. “I am a little surprised that no one had thought of it.”
Put simply, he combined and commercialized the well-known technology of the resonating magnetron and the plasma generator into a device that quite literally boils viruses to the point of desiccation and renders them into a harmless gas. Even such virulent microorganisms as anthrax and SARS are eliminated.
Initially developed by a French naval physicist who specialized in the technology of producing germ-free air in confined spaces — notably submarines — the device has been sold to the dairy industry where it has further proved its effectiveness.
Looking for a concentration of people on the grand scale where the impact of his invention could be most effective for humankind, Beaudouin saw Haj and its congregation of over two million pilgrims as an ideal choice.
The Saudi authorities, once briefed and familiar with the potential of the device, were quick to take up the running.
“Nowhere in the world have I seen such harmony between all the participants and such a will to do the best,” said Beaudouin. “In this exciting atmosphere, our side has made available the most extraordinary scientific process.”
Beaudouin said the professionalism and the means employed were impressive. “They sent their best experts to Switzerland to visit scientific institutions that support us,” he said. “They hired top consultants who specialize in air-conditioning systems and their due diligence has been so demanding that it took us two years to meet all the tests that were requested. I do not regret this because it is these testing procedures that helped us in our development and allowed us to achieve the high performance of our facilities.”
In just two years, the project to decontaminate the air at the holy places is at a stage of development and production where pilot units are being installed at the Haj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and Makkah’s Grand Mosque and Jamrat Bridge.
The technology is not a destination in Beaudouin’s view, but the start of a new journey of exploration. During the device’s research and development phase, scientists at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) learned that the method of resonance used expends very little energy. They also point out that the device does not produce hazardous by-products, such as ozone or nitrogen oxide.
“We are only at the start of this wonderful exploration of cleaning industrial gases where applications in the oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia are considerable,” he said. The Kingdom provides an attractive destination for the technologies behind the air-decontaminating system developed by Askair, a division of the Askokoro conglomerate.
Beaudouin — a non-Muslim — said he has set up a Shariah-compliant fund designed to finance projects such as water-recycling systems and an agricultural plastic that increases plant growth and improves water quality.
Currently the Saudi Hollandi Bank and the Arab National Bank are setting up initial funds for the air-purification project (as well as one for water recycling) for the holy cities, hospitals and schools.
The funds, he says, “are also a way to initiate major projects in the region and in particular the privatization of water.”
What makes the Askokoro business plan stand apart from the simple sale of a piece of advanced technology is the element of sharing among cultures and countries the basic technology and any developments in the system. The use of the improvements or applications they develop will be free from any intellectual property charges; in effect the users will act as a huge development and research network. Beaudouin will present the technology to the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology.
