Improving Indoor Air Quality With Plants

[Amazoniac]

Members that are trying to improve Such's patent of swallowing a red light pill by proposing that people should do something similar to endoscopy but with red light all owa the tube,

Speaking of endoscopy, air and space, here's the classic nasal study:
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077.pdf

For those that have studied burtlan's work, you should know that he's a garden connoisseur because it's part of his seductive ambience, believing that plants not only make it more relaxing, but also improve the air, making his "friends" much more comfortable for the next moves, he calls his plants "romantic assistants".
He has a small enclosed room in which one of the walls is adorned with a big vertical garden that he uses to impress the ladies with home-grown seasonings. He reports very good results there in terms of air quality. Little he knows that it's not just the leaves, but a good portion of the core of the plant with its roots and the soil with its microbes that are responsible for metabolizing the stuff from air.
From a preliminary study of theirs:

It is [..] interesting to note in our studies, that for the soil to be highly effective in removing indoor air pollutants, plants must be growing in this soil. Therefore, the plant is very important in removing indoor air pollution either directly through its leaves or indirectly through the root/soil pathway. For removal of high concentrations of chemical and/or smoke from inside buildings it is desirable to have an integrated system using potting plants and one or more activated carbon/plant filtration systems.

Since it's an enclosed room, it simulates well the experiment, which is a chamber with a pollutant trapped inside. If his room had circulating air, the busy street next to it would recirculate the pollution and make it harder to clean up the air in a decent rate.
The heat of the moment (and thus room temp) also contribute:

As temperature and light levels are increased, it is expected that indoor pollution removal rates will increase along with some plant metabolite off-gassing. Increased oxygen production and carbon dioxide removal should also increase the rate of leaf participation in the removal rates of trace volatile organic chemicals.

The study also involves activated charcoal, which might play a big part in collecting impurities.

This filter adsorbs air pollutants and holds them until the plant roots and microorganisms can utilize them as a food source; therefore, bioregenerating the carbon.

Their conclusion:

Low-light-requiring houseplants, along with activated carbon plant filters, have demonstrated the potential for improving indoor air quality by removing trace organic pollutants from the air in energy-efficient buildings. This plant system is one of the most promising means of alleviating the sick building syndrome associated with many new, energy-efficient buildings. The plant root-soil zone appears to be the most effective area for removing volatile organic chemicals. Therefore, maximizing air exposure to the plant root-soil area should be considered when placing plants in buildings for best air filtration.
Activated carbon filters containing fans have the capacity for rapidly filtering large volumes of polluted air and should be considered an integral part of any plan using houseplants for solving indoor air pollution problems.

 

[Steven Bussinger]

Does it tell you how to make one of these carbon-plant filters?