Botanical biofiltration of indoor gaseous pollutants – A mini-review

Soreanu, Gabriela; Dixon, Michael; Darlington, Alan

doi:10.1016/j.cej.2013.06.074

Cited by 159 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Most are incapable of removing all of the key gaseous pollutants simultaneously, some are unsafe due to the emission of ozone, and all require expensive regular maintenance and are costly to install (Soreanu et al 2013). Research into biotechnological alternatives thus may offer a realistic alternative to engineering solutions for the maintenance of acceptable IAQ.…”

Section: Physiochemical Versus Biological Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However a number of criticisms have appeared in the literature, in particular challenging the validity of extrapolating static chamber data to real-world environments, most notably regarding the capacity of passive potted plants to quantitatively influence the extremely low normal airborne concentrations of VOCs in most indoor environments (e.g. Llewellyn and Dixon 2011;Soreanu et al 2013). Simple potted plant based-biolfiltration systems, nonetheless, clearly have the potential to be effective in the built environment.…”

Section: The History Of Bioremediation Of Indoor Airmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Research over the last three decades has demonstrated that passive biofiltration with indoor plants can significantly reduce concentrations of most types of urban air pollutants (Wolverton et al 1989;Coward et al 1996;Lee and Sim 1999;Yoneyama et al 2002;Orwell et al 2004;Wood et al 2006;Yoo et al 2006;Kim et al 2008;Irga et al 2013). The primary advantages of passive phytoremediation over active biofilters are cost and flexibility of installation, as in many cases no specific infrastructure changes are required to install potted plants in most indoor spaces (Soreanu et al 2013).…”

Section: Phytoremediation and Horticultural Biotechnologymentioning

confidence: 98%

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Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

Torpy

Irga

Burchett

2014

Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering

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Indoor environmental quality is a growing concern, as populations become more urbanised and people spend a greater proportion of their lives indoors. Volatile organic compounds outgassing from synthetic materials and carbon dioxide from human respiration have been major indoor air quality concerns. The growing use of energy-efficient recirculating ventilation solutions has led to greater accumulation of these pollutants indoors. A range of physiochemical methods have been developed to remove contaminants from indoor air, but all methods have high maintenance costs and none reduce CO 2 , which some biological systems can achieve effectively with the additional benefit of the selfsustaining capacity of biological material. Bacteria are the major organisms involved in bioremediation of VOCs, although green plants may help sustain the bacterial community and add the capacity for CO 2 reduction to a system. The main problems faced by indoor air bioremediation systems is the extremely low concentrations of VOCs present indoors and the possibility of microbial release. Simple, passive biofiltration with potted green plants may be the simplest and most effective system for indoor air cleaning, but further research into substrate types, ventilation, and the microbiology of biodegradation processes is required to reveal their ultimate potential. Purely microbial systems have potential for the bioamelioration of high concentrations of toxic gases, but not without significant maintenance costs. Despite many years of study and substantial market demand, a proven formula for indoor air bioremediation for all applications is yet to be developed.

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Section: Physiochemical Versus Biological Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: The History Of Bioremediation Of Indoor Airmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Phytoremediation and Horticultural Biotechnologymentioning

confidence: 98%

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Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

Torpy

Irga

Burchett

2014

Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering

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“…While references to the parent fields of ecology and evolution have stayed relatively constant over the last decade, references to constructed ecosystems have increased dramatically over the same period (Figure 1). The burgeoning interest in constructed ecosystems has been matched by an increase in their prevalence in urban landscapes (Soreanu et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2014;Williams et al, 2014;Wu et al, 2015), so a full understanding of urban ecology is incomplete without recognition of the structure and function of these components of green infrastructure. This paper provides an ecologist's perspective on the commonalities between seemingly disparate kinds of constructed ecosystem and how they differ from natural ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecology and evolution of constructed ecosystems as green infrastructure

Lundholm

2015

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Green infrastructure consists of ecosystems that provide valuable services to urban areas. Constructed ecosystems, including green roofs, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands and bioreactors are artificial, custom-built components of green infrastructure that are becoming more common in cities. Small size, strong spatial boundaries, ecological novelty and the role of human design characterize all constructed ecosystems, influencing their functions and interactions with other urban ecosystems. Here I outline the relevance of ecology and evolution in understanding the functioning of constructed ecosystems. In turn, a research focus on the distinctive aspects of constructed ecosystems can contribute to fundamental science.

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“…Although outdoor air pollution dominates the discussions of scientists and leaders 37 (Bascom et al 1996; Kunzli et al 2000), there is a growing body of research focusing on indoor 38 air quality (Bruce et al 2000; Spengler & Sexton 1983), which likely has more of an impact on 39 people's daily lives (Jones 1999;Kostiainen 1995;Mumford et al 1987). In recent years, plants 40 have gained popularity as a means to purify polluted air (Fujii et al 2005; Soreanu et al 2013). 41 While some studies were able to confirm their ability to purify air (Kim et al 2008; Soreanu et al 42 2013; Ugrekhelidze et al 1997), we do not understand why indoor plants have the capacity to 43 remove artificial pollutants not found among their wild counterparts' native habitats.…”

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confidence: 75%

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Supplemental Information 1: The Plant List With Descriptions of Plant Trait and Their Cultivated Environments

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Although it is well known that plants have the capacity to remove indoor air pollutants, there has been little research to investigate how this ability is regulated by the environment and evolutionary processes. In this study, we tested the capacity of 58 common indoor plants to remove three specific air pollutants. We also measured the traits, phylogenetic signals, and cultivated environments of these plants to analyze their relationship with the air pollutant removal capacity using Spearman's correlation, Blomberg's K test, and phylogenetic generalized least-squares. While we found trait variation had a significant correlation with removal capacity, we did not, however, detect a phylogenetic signal with removal capacity. Trait variation and environmental factors both contributed to the removal capacity in phylogenetic generalized least-squares, but again, without phylogeny. Our results show that plant trait variation, especially total leaf area, could play an important role in plant's capacity to remove pollutants from indoor air.Moreover, environmental changes, not the phylogeny, could result in trait modification, improving the tolerance and purification capacities of these plants. The findings outlined here will help to explain how plants living with air pollution can adapt as well as the application of plants for the purpose of indoor air purification.PeerJ PrePrints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1614v1 | CC-BY 4.0 Open Access |

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Botanical biofiltration of indoor gaseous pollutants – A mini-review

Cited by 159 publications

References 66 publications

Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

The ecology and evolution of constructed ecosystems as green infrastructure

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