My son drove a tow truck part-time. Occasionally, a broken-down car had a blown engine, and the owner could not afford to repair the car. My son would purchase the old car with the intent of replacing the engine and then reselling it. The interior of all these cars smelled terrible. I knew that biochar would effectively remove the volatile organic compounds if I could circulate the air in the cars through the biochar. I created the first prototype Whiffer Zapper that captured odors in biochar, to remove the odors from the old broken-down cars. It was very effective at removing the noxious odors and replacing them with a pleasant scent. The prototype consisted of a fountain soda plastic cup with holes around the bottom to allow air in and a USB fan on top to pull air through the biochar that was inside the cup. The Whiffer Zapper was born.
