Air Cleaning Performance of Two Species of Potted Plants and Different Substrates

Tatiana Armijos-Moya,Philomena M Bluyssen,Marc Ottelé,Pieter De Visser,Andy Van Den Dobbelsteen

doi:10.3390/app12010284

Tatiana Armijos-Moya, Philomena M Bluyssen + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app12010284

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Abstract

Potted plants have been reported to uptake VOCs and help “cleaning” the air. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study in which two species of plants (peace lily and Boston fern) and three kinds of substrates (expanded clay, soil, and activated carbon) were tested and monitored on their capacity to deplete formaldehyde and CO2 in a glass chamber. Formaldehyde and CO2 were selected as indicators to evaluate the biofiltration efficacy of 28 different test conditions; relative humidity (RH) and temperature (T) were monitored during the experiments. To evaluate the efficacy of every test, the clean air delivery rate (CADR) was calculated. Overall, soil had the best performance in removing formaldehyde (~0.07–0.16 m3/h), while plants, in particular, were more effective in reducing CO2 concentrations (peace lily 0.01m3/h) (Boston fern 0.02–0.03 m3/h). On average, plants (~0.03 m3/h) were as effective as dry expanded clay (0.02–0.04 m3/h) in depleting formaldehyde from the chamber. Regarding air-cleaning performance, Boston ferns presented the best performance among the plant species, and the best performing substrate was the soil.

Highlights

Studies have shown that poor indoor air quality (IAQ) affects human health in longterm exposure [1]
This paper presents the results of a study on the uptake of formaldehyde dehyde and CO2 from selected potted plants and substrates, with the objective of using andoutcome
This study presents the results of the uptake of formaldehyde with a concentration of 300 ppb (0.37 mg/m3 ), which is within the boundaries of the detection threshold of formaldehyde indoors (0.03 mg/m3 –0.6 mg/m3 ) [1] and close to the guideline value based on sensory effects (0.1 mg/m3 ) [1]

Summary

Introduction

Studies have shown that poor indoor air quality (IAQ) affects human health in longterm exposure [1]. Several studies related with IAQ have indicated that VOCs are emitted by indoor sources such as building materials, furnishings, and cleaning products [4,5,6,7,8]. In 1998, Yu and Crump published a review on VOC emissions from newly built houses [9]. They stated that building material emissions are the sources of VOCs in the indoor environment, especially during the first six months after construction [9]. VOCs are ubiquitous and have harmful effects on human health, such as asthma, wheezing, allergic rhinitis, and eczema

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