Delhi teenager Krish Aggarwal wins Diana Award for fan air purifier Project Vayu

Delhi teenager Krish Aggarwal has been named on the 2026 Diana Award Roll of Honour for co-founding Project Vayu, an initiative that turns standard classroom fans into low-cost air purifiers. The innovation has already brought cleaner indoor air to more than 10,000 pupils in underprivileged schools across the national capital region.

Aggarwal co-founded Project Vayu alongside Samarth Meattle, building on early work with Savya Meattle, to tackle indoor air pollution without forcing resource-strapped schools to purchase commercial purifiers. The team collaborated with Massachusetts-based filtration manufacturer Hollingsworth & Vose, securing 700 metres of electret media filter material for research and development. The resulting filter features an elastic lining that fits around standard wall and table fans in under a minute without tools or adhesives.

When the fan turns on, airflow inflates the electrostatically charged material into a balloon shape, expanding the active filtering surface area from 1.4 square feet to more than five square feet. In a closed-room test conducted in a 168-square-foot space, the device lowered fine PM2.5 particulate levels from 158 micrograms per cubic metre to 11 micrograms per cubic metre in 60 minutes — a reduction of over 90 per cent.

Project Vayu impact and technical specifications

Each unit costs approximately ₹140 to produce, covering electret filter media, stitching, elastic lining and transport. Project Vayu distributes the filters to schools free of charge and supplies fans whenever a classroom lacks one. Following a pilot across 295 classrooms, the team is expanding the program to 45 additional schools in New Delhi.

The Diana Award recognised Aggarwal for creating accessible, evidence-based environmental solutions that protect children in their daily learning environment.