Indoor plants can purify polluted air in just 8 hours. According to the World Health Organization, 6.7 million people die prematurely worldwide due to air pollution.
With people around the world spending nearly 90 percent of their time indoors, whether at the office, home, or school, experts are recommending new strategies to improve indoor air quality. Various studies have been conducted on this topic.
The study in question is the first to show that plants can clean up oil vapor, one of the largest sources of toxic compounds found in buildings around the world.
Since offices are often connected directly to parking lots by doors or elevator shafts, it is difficult to prevent harmful oil-related compounds from leaking into work and residential areas.
Studies show that many buildings are exposed to toxic gasoline fumes from nearby roads and highways.
The ability of plants to extract oil-related compounds has been tested for the first time, and the results are striking, said co-author Fraser Thorpe of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in Australia, in a statement.
Scientists tested the ability of the Ambius phytowall system placed in rooms with low levels of oil vapor and compared it to the effect observed in rooms without plants.
Although leaks in both chambers cannot be ruled out, the researchers said they were confident that the plants removed more than 40 percent of all volatile organic compounds during the 8-hour test period.
According to them, almost all harmful chemicals such as alkanes, benzene derivatives, and cyclopentanes have been eliminated.
Researchers say Ambius’ green wall can remove 97 percent of the most toxic compounds from the surrounding air in just 8 hours.
It should be noted that indoor air quality is more polluted than outdoor air, which affects mental and physical health.
