Health & Wellbeing

Indoor plants are surprisingly good at devouring carcinogenic toxins

Indoor plants are surprisingly good at devouring carcinogenic toxins
Researchers have found that plants are very effective at clearing toxic pollutants from indoor air
Researchers have found that plants are very effective at clearing toxic pollutants from indoor air
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Researchers have found that plants are very effective at clearing toxic pollutants from indoor air
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Researchers have found that plants are very effective at clearing toxic pollutants from indoor air

Researchers have demonstrated how effective plants are at ridding the air in your home, school, or workplace of toxic, carcinogenic pollutants, providing a sustainable, low-cost way of ensuring that the air you breathe is cleaner.

Given that people spend 90% of their time indoors at home, school, or the workplace, it’s important that the air we breathe is as clean as possible.

A common source of indoor air pollution is gasoline vapor, which contains the ‘big four’ volatile organic compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene – collectively referred to as BTEX. These compounds are toxic, highly carcinogenic and associated with respiratory diseases and issues with the central nervous system. Studies have shown that gas stations affect BTEX concentrations inside schools up to 820 ft (250 m) away.

Now, researchers from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia shows just how efficient plants are at ridding indoor air of these nasty toxins.

“We know that indoor air quality is often significantly more polluted than outdoor air, which in turn impacts mental and physical health,” said Johan Hodgson, general manager of Ambius, the plant providers that worked alongside the researchers. “But the great news is this study has shown that something as simple as having plants indoors can make a huge difference.”

Conventional air-cleaning tech, such as filtration devices in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems aren’t able to remove gaseous pollutants from indoor air. Conversely, the ability of plants to remove a broad range of contaminants from the air has long been known. It’s just that no research has been undertaken to test how effective they are at doing it until now.

The researchers and Ambius designed a Small Live Green Wall (SLGW) using indoor plants known for their phytoremediation abilities. Phytoremediation is the proper term for using plants to clean up contaminated soil, air and water is phytoremediation.

They tested nine SLGW systems, each containing devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum), arrowhead vine (Syngonium podophyllum), and spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum). A control was prepared that contained only potting mixture and no plants. The SLGWs were placed in sealed perspex chambers, exposed to volatile organic compounds, and then analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

University of Technology Sydney researchers testing the plants' ability to digest air pollutants
University of Technology Sydney researchers testing the plants' ability to digest air pollutants

The researchers found that the removal of the compounds was high. Most effective removal was demonstrated for alkanes (97.9%), benzene derivatives (85.96%) and cyclopentane (88.18%), all of which are known to cause notable health effects. The benzene derivatives tested contained BTEX. After only eight hours, all compounds were reduced to less than 20% of the original starting concentrations.

“This is the first time plants have been tested for their ability to remove petrol-related compounds, and the results are astounding,” said bioremediation researcher Fraser Torpy, who led the study. “Not only can plants remove the majority of pollutants from the air in a matter of hours, they remove the most harmful petrol-related pollutants from the air most efficiently, for example, known carcinogen benzene is digested at a faster rate than less harm substances, like alcohols.”

The concentration of pollutants influenced how effectively the plants digested them.

“We also found that the more concentrated the toxins in the air, the faster and more effective the plants became at removing the toxins, showing that plants adapt to the conditions they’re growing in,” Torpy said.

The study’s findings demonstrate that plants are an effective, sustainable way of combatting harmful indoor pollution. What’s more, they’re relatively cheap and easy to set up in your home, school, or workplace, and are generally low maintenance.

The research report is available as a PDF here.

Source: University of Technology Sydney

4 comments
4 comments
Brian M
Interesting counter conclusion to another recent report that concluded house plants in practical numbers did little to help pollution. Opening a window was a better.
strategy, but guess it depends what's outside as well!

Either way, its still nice to have house plants than not!
michael_dowling
This one keeps coming back from the dead Yes,plants remove pollutants from the air,but you would need enough plants to cover every square foot of your living space to do the job.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/houseplants-dont-purify-indoor-air
PhilippeHolthuizen
It’s an interesting study, and article, but it should be noted that the research is a bit tainted by being done for a profit-driven company supplying indoor plants. And that the control was a closed greenhouse. I bet that a greenhouse with some outside air circulation would outperform the plants.

Mr McClure/New Atlas, dont be afraid to put on your journalistic hat and call out stuff like this. It’s what i appreciate most about this website’s reporting!
Anechidna
Yeah right. Using plants to clean indoor air pollution, while the growing media used by these plants is supporting the growth of moulds which then release their mycotoxins into that same air space. Plants are nice to have around but they aren't a panacea for solving a man-made problem.

A better solution is to reduce the man-made chemicals being introduced in our furniture, floor linings, fabrics, personal care products, air fresheners etc etc.

Use an air purifier with activated charcoal filters is probably the way to resolve this issue if nothing else is done to reduce indoor air pollution.