Abstract
Due to hot desert weather, residents of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) spend 90% of their time indoors, and the interior environment of the newly built apartments with inappropriate material and ventilation is causing sick building syndrome (SBS), faster than in any other country. NASA studies on indoor air pollutants indicate that the usage of 15–18 air-purifying plants in 18–24 cm diameter containers can clean the air in an average 167.2 m2 house (approximately one plant per 9.2 m2). This study investigates the effect of three different types of air-purifying plants, Pachira aquatica, Ficus benjamina, and Aglaonema commutatum, in reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde (CH2O) in hot desert climate. An experiment is performed in which the CH2O and VOCs concentrations are measured in two laboratory spaces (Room 1 and Room 2). Different volumes (5 and 10% of the laboratory volume) of target plants are installed in Room 1, whereas Room 2 is measured under the same conditions without plants for comparison. The results show that the greater the planting volume (10%), the greater is the reduction effect of each VOCs. In summer in hot desert climate, the initial concentration (800 µg/cm3) of CH2O and VOCs is higher, and the reduction amount is higher (534.5 µg/cm3) as well. The reduction amount of CH2O and toluene (C7H8) is particularly high. In the case of C7H8, the reduction amount (45.9 µg/cm3) is higher in summer with Aglaonema commutatum and Ficus benjamina. It is statistically proven that Ficus benjamina is most effective in reducing CH2O and C7H8 in an indoor space in hot desert climate. The findings of this study can serve as basic data for further improving the indoor air quality using only air-purifying plants in hot desert climate of the United Arab Emirates.
Highlights
Residents of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), spend 90% of their time indoors because of the sweltering summers and lack of clear demarcation between different seasons (Khaleej Times, 2011; UAE, 2018; Hachicha et al, 2019; Jung and Awad, 2021a)
This study aims to investigate the effect of three different types of air-purifying plants, Pachira aquatica, Ficus benjamina, and Aglaonema commutatum, on reducing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde (CH2O) in indoor spaces
In order to investigate the effect of the volume of each plant in the reduction of the VOC and formaldehyde (CH2O) concentrations, an experiment was conducted by planting 10% of the laboratory space volume (Gawronski et al, 2017)
Summary
Residents of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), spend 90% of their time indoors because of the sweltering summers and lack of clear demarcation between different seasons (Khaleej Times, 2011; UAE, 2018; Hachicha et al, 2019; Jung and Awad, 2021a). The interior environment of the apartments in the UAE is causing sick building syndrome (SBS), faster than in any other country (Amoatey et al, 2020; Jung et al, 2021a; Awad and Jung, 2021). Due to unprecedented urbanization, many new residential projects have been constructed in the UAE, Air-Purifying Plants Effect with inappropriate material and ventilation (Nassar et al, 2014; Jung et al, 2021b). This social phenomenon is accelerating the spread of SBS (Awbi, 2015). As an alternative to these methods, interest in air-purifying plants has increased in late, which can reduce costs and create a green environment (Martini et al, 2014; Liu et al, 2017; Gong et al, 2019)
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