Potted plants can remove the pollutant nitrogen dioxide indoors

Abstract

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a significant pollutant in both outdoor and indoor environments with exposure linked to serious respiratory illnesses, decreased lung function and airway inflammation. Here, we investigate whether potted plants can contribute as a simple and cost-effective indoor air pollution mitigation technique. Our study investigates the ability of the combination of the three plant species Spathiphyllum wallisii ‘Verdi’, Dracaena fragrans ‘Golden Coast’ and Zamioculcas zamiifolia with two different growing media to remove in situ concentrations (100 ppb) of NO2 in real-time at two typical indoor light levels (0 and 500 lx) and in ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ growing media conditions. All studied ‘growing medium–plant systems’ were able to reduce NO2 concentrations representative of a polluted urban environment, but to varying degrees. The greatest NO2 removal measured inside a 150 L chamber over 1-h period in ‘wet’ growing media at ~ 500 lx was achieved by D. fragrans. When accounting for dilution, this would correspond to a removal of up to 3 ppb NO2 per m2 of leaf area over the 1-h test period and 0.62 ppb per potted plant over the same period when modelled for a small office (15 m3) in a highly polluted environment. Depending on building ventilation rates and NO2 concentration gradients at the indoor-outdoor interface that will vary massively between polluted urban and rural locations, potted plants offer clear potential to improve indoor air quality—in particular in confined indoor spaces that are poorly ventilated and/or located in highly polluted areas.

Indoor Air Quality: A Review of Cleaning Technologies

“…The use of potted plants to promote air purification has been studied for a long time [28]. Although considered a passive approach, it has been investigated for the removal of harmful pollutants such NO 2 , with promising results, for example with a combination of species Spathip-hyllum wallisii "Verdi", Dracaena fragrans "Golden Coast" and Zamioculcas zamiifoli [142]. Jung and Awad [143] demonstrated that indoor plants can improve the IAQ in University classrooms, showing that the increase in CO 2 concentration in classrooms with plant placement was lower (624 ppm) compared with the case without plant placement (about 1205 ppm).…”

Indoor Air Quality in Cob Buildings: In Situ Studies and Artificial Neural Network Modeling

“…It is indeed essential to note that nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound known to have adverse health effects, particularly on individuals with pre-existing respiratory conditions [30].…”

Human Health Risks and Interference of Urban Landscape and Meteorological Parameters in the Distribution of Pollutant: A Case Study of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand

“…Therefore, residents should reduce the time spent on outdoor activities and stay in enclosed spaces for longer periods. Moreover, vegetation should be planted in both traffic areas and indoors in order to reduce the concentrations of air pollutants because the leaves of plants can absorb NO 2 through their stomata [41]. Moreover, outdoor vegetation can increase the deposition rates of pollutants because deposition rates on vegetation are greater than those on hard, built surfaces [42].…”