Editors’ Choice
2022 Skyscraper Competition
Maryam Vaseghi
Germany
Germany is a country of old forests, beautiful rivers, and historic artwork and buildings. Acid rain is dangerous gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide combined with water in clouds to create acid rain. When it comes to the problem of acid rain, Germany is its own worst enemy. The main sources of acid rain are smoke from factories and cars. Factories burn fossil fuels like natural gas, coal, and oil. This adds to acid rain through auto emissions. The toxic smoke from manufacturing plants is carried by air currents to other places before it falls to earth as acid rain. Germany shares its borders with many other countries. With other countries involved, it is also a more difficult problem to solve. For example, air currents bring the chemical-filled smoke from coal-burning factories in the United Kingdom to Germany. The chemicals fall to earth in Germany as acid rain. Over the past forty years, acid rain has taken its toll on these landmarks. Acid rain has ruined nearly half of the Black Forest in southwestern Germany. It has damaged the soil and the trees growing in it. Many acres of diseased trees are at risk of dying. It is the main concern in the future.
In this project, some special balloons are precisely designed that store acid rain from the environment. the designed sponge contains an internal Helium tank that helps float in the sky. Each module of this mobile system stores a significant amount of acid rain that is calculated according to the capacity of each balloon. The internal system of the sponge is a suction system that is directed to the pipes inside it. Each sponge is marked with numbers that after filling their capacity, will be directed to the main location in which is in the upper part of the building. After this process, acid rain is led to the main part of the pipe which is designed as a building structure. It is designed like human ribs that expanded all side parts of the building. Then the acid rain enters the refinery and has been designed based on research. Although this system has not been built it is possible to create it perfectly. We know that pure water has a pH of 7.0; however, natural, unpolluted rainwater has a pH of about 5.6 acidic. The acidity of rainwater comes from the natural presence of three substances CO2, NO, and SO2 found in the troposphere the lowest layer of the atmosphere. This system purifies acid rain and product clean water for agriculture and the environment in which have been designed in interior places of the skyscraper. The received water from acid rain is stored in a source and is transferred to a wet scrubber by an electronic pump. The air is blown from the bottom and as a result of this process carbon dioxide and air are emitted from above and pure water is exited from another separate path. The air and carbon dioxide are gathered in the stripper and a combination of water and amine flow into it. The following steps obtain clear air in which we can use it for the environment. After this, the water solvent, amine, and rich carbon dioxide come out of the tank together and are transferred to the absorption tower. The last stage is when carbon dioxide is released and this pollutant is sent to the depths of the earth in porous parts and stored. The clean air and water come back to the system for use in the indoor skyscraper.
