• Common houseplants can improve air quali

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Mon Mar 7 21:30:46 2022
    Common houseplants can improve air quality indoors

    Date:
    March 7, 2022
    Source:
    University of Birmingham
    Summary:
    Ordinary potted house plants can potentially make a significant
    contribution to reducing air pollution in homes and offices,
    according to new research.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Ordinary potted house plants can potentially make a significant
    contribution to reducing air pollution in homes and offices, according
    to new research led by the University of Birmingham and in partnership
    with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).


    ========================================================================== During a series of experiments monitoring common houseplants exposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) -- a common pollutant -- researchers calculated
    that in some conditions, the plants could be able to reduce NO2 by as
    much as 20 per cent.

    The researchers tested three houseplants commonly found in UK homes, easy
    to maintain and not overly expensive to buy. They included Peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii), Corn plant (Dracaena fragrans) and fern arum (Zamioculcas zamiifolia).

    Each plant was put, by itself, into a test chamber containing levels of
    NO2 comparable to an office situated next to a busy road.

    Over a period of one hour, the team calculated that all the plants,
    regardless of species, were able to remove around half the NO2 in the
    chamber. The performance of the plants was not dependent on the plants' environment, for example whether it was in light or dark conditions,
    and whether the soil was wet or dry.

    Lead researcher Dr Christian Pfrang said: "The plants we chose were
    all very different from each other, yet they all showed strikingly
    similar abilities to remove NO2 from the atmosphere. This is very
    different from the way indoor plants take up CO2 in our earlier work,
    which is strongly dependent on environmental factors such as night time
    or daytime, or soil water content." The team also calculated what these results might mean for a small office (15 m3) and a medium-sized office
    (100 m3) with different levels of ventilation. In a poorly ventilated
    small office with high levels of air pollution, they calculated that
    five houseplants would reduce NO2levels by around 20 per cent.

    In the larger space, the effect would be smaller -- 3.5 per cent, though
    this effect would be increased by adding more plants.

    While the effects of the plants in reducing NO2 are clear, the precise mechanism by which they do this remain a mystery. Dr Pfrang added: "We
    don't think the plants are using the same process as they do for CO2
    uptake, in which the gas is absorbed through stomata -- tiny holes --
    in the leaves. There was no indication, even during longer experiments,
    that our plants released the NO2 back into the atmosphere, so there
    is likely a biological process taking place also involving the soil the
    plant grows in -- but we don't yet know what that is." Dr Tijana Blanusa, principal horticultural scientist at the RHS and one of the researchers involved in the study said: "This complements RHS efforts to understand scientific detail behind what we know to be a popular passion.

    Understanding the limits of what we can expect from plants helps us plan
    and advise on planting combinations that not only look good but also
    provide an important environmental service." In the next phase of the research, the team will be designing sophisticated tools for modelling
    air quality indoors encompassing a much wider range of variables. The
    new project, funded by the Met Office, will use mobile air quality
    measuring instruments to identify pollutants and test their effects in
    both residential and office spaces, producing a wealth of data to inform
    the tool's development.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Birmingham. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Curtis Gubb, Tijana Blanusa, Alistair Griffiths, Christian
    Pfrang. Potted
    plants can remove the pollutant nitrogen dioxide indoors. Air
    Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 2022; 15 (3): 479 DOI:
    10.1007/s11869-022-01171-6 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307113115.htm

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