Okay, so picture a tree and the Biomitech ‘e-tree’ might be a world away from what you’re used to, but this modern installation is fulfilling an important role in reducing the amount of harmful gasses and particulate in the breathable air of Mexico City.

As part of the Formula E Championship series this year, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler drivers, Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt, are visiting businesses in each Formula E destination that are committed to making positive contributions to the environment.

In Mexico recently, the duo visited Biomitech, a firm developing systems designed to attract, trap and remove harmful agents from the atmosphere, in what is a city beset with environmental concerns and particularly poor air quality.

Given the sheer volume of traffic in Mexico City alone, air quality has long been a serious issue for residents, resulting in significant health issues and indeed loss of life each year. One of Biomitech’s initiatives involves a system they describe as something of an artificial tree – a large cone-like structure that contains specially developed solutions that attract gasses such as CO2 and NOx as well as particulates produced by burning fossil fuels.

As much as 300 cubic metres of these deleterious agents are trapped in the chemical reservoirs each day. Filled with a specific micro-algae that feeds on the airborne agents, as they reach saturation, the technicians from Biotech drain the reservoirs and the resultant fluids can be used to create bio-fuels and bio-fetilizers – effectively a circular economy.

Each one of these ‘artificial tress’ has much the same effect on air quality as would 369 pine tress,  and while they are perhaps not quite as aesthetically appealing, the work they do in filtering the air  and improving air quality is invaluable.