Effect of plants on an environment with high carbon dioxide concentration

Abstract

Abstract Greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), have a negative effect on global warming. It is clear that many industries emit high CO2 concentrations, but the concentration of this gas can be decreased before and after emission. In this study, in the first part, the effects of three plants, including Spanish Moss Tillandsia Aerobic (SMTA), Thailandia Native Fulia (TNF), and Aloe Vera, on CO2 concentration, humidity, and temperature in a high CO2 concentration environment for a period of 8 ​h were evaluated. After that, the plants were located separately in another closed system to evaluate the release of CO2 for a period of 16 ​h. In the second part, several mathematical functions were utilized for finding an accurate formula for CO2 absorption for each plant using the regression technique; finally, the design of a system for decreasing CO2 concentration using the plant was evaluated to specify that this system is practical or not. The tests for all plants were repeated three times. The kinetics of CO2 absorption for all plants, which was modeled using a poly linear with an order of 5, performed better than other numerical models. The results show that the rate of CO2 absorption was changed during the tests. On the other hand, in each cycle, the plants absorb CO2 and then rest for a period. This cycle was repeated four times for Aloe vera, but it was repeated two times for TNF and SMTA. The results show that not only Aloe vera decreased CO2 concentration and the humidity more than SMTA and TNF, but also it released CO2 less than these plants after absorbing CO2 for a period of 8 ​h. This plant released 16 ​ppm CO2 after the test for a period of 16 ​h and decreased 2.9% of humidity and 487 ​ppm of CO2 concentration. Moreover, this plant increased the temperature by 0.2 ​°C during the test, which this value is less than the increased temperature by SMTA and TNF. As a result, Aloe Vera selected as the best plant to decrease CO2 concentration and global warming.