Biofiltration of indoor pollutants by ornamental plants

The impact of plants on indoor air quality and the examination of a putative interrelation between plant physiology and pollutant removal were investigated in the presented thesis. Moreover, the impact of plants on human well-being in the working environment was examined. Experiments in test chambers revealed that the uptake of pollutants (toluene and 2 ethylhexanol) by plants is very limited, i.e. a removal rate of 2 - 5 L h-1 m-2 leaf area, corresponding to about 20 – 100 µg h-1 m-2 leaf area. Furthermore, the impact of plant physiological parameters was found to be negligible for the uptake of the two tested pollutants. It was shown that the pollutant uptake depends mainly on sorption to plant surfaces. A field study verified that one big plant (Spathiphyllum wallisii) in a 20-m² office has no detectable impact on indoor air quality in regard to concentration of volatile organic compounds, temperature and relative humidity. The well-being of office workers could not be improved by the plant and it is suggested that effects of plants on humans in the working environment are rather small and subject to a more complex system of varying factors.