An efficient plant–microbe phytoremediation method to remove formaldehyde from air

Yang, Yuxia; Su, Yuhong; Zhao, Suya

doi:10.1007/s10311-019-00922-9

Original Paper
Published: 22 August 2019

An efficient plant–microbe phytoremediation method to remove formaldehyde from air

Environmental Chemistry Letters volume 18, pages 197–206 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

In 2012, 7 million premature deaths were attributed to air pollution, of which 4.3 million to indoor air pollution inducing the “sick building syndrome.” In particular, formaldehyde, a toxic and highly reactive chemical, has been linked to cancer. The use of soil microbial biomass and plants to remove formaldehyde from polluted air by plants has been proposed, but there are so far few quantitative reports. Here, we developed an efficient plant–microbe technology to remove formaldehyde by adding cultured microorganism into the rhizosphere of three plant species, Tradescantia zebrina Bosse (T. zebrina), Aloe vera (Haw.) Ber (A. vera) and Vigna radiata (Linn.) Wilczek (V. radiata). Shoots were exposed to 0.72 mg of formaldehyde per m³ of air for 24 h. Results show that formaldehyde removal rates were 23.1 ± 0.1 μg/h/g fresh weight with microbes versus 18.5 ± 0.21 μg/h/g without microbes for A. vera, 86.4 ± 0.7 versus 59.3 ± 0.2 μg/h/g for T. zebrine and 97.6 ± 0.9 versus 25.1 ± 4.2 μg/h/g for V. radiata. Overall, formaldehyde removal was increased by 6.7–90.5% using microbes. Formaldehyde removal was influenced by light intensity, with this effect more pronounced in plant–microbe systems.

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Change history

17 November 2019
In the original publication of the article, the first author name has been misspelt.
17 November 2019
In the original publication of the article, the first author name has been misspelt.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21667028, 41361072, U1403381).

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College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinjiang University, Ürümqi, 830046, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China
Yuxia Yang, Yuhong Su & Suya Zhao

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Yuxia Yang
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Yuhong Su
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Suya Zhao
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Correspondence to Yuhong Su.

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Yang, Y., Su, Y. & Zhao, S. An efficient plant–microbe phytoremediation method to remove formaldehyde from air. Environ Chem Lett 18, 197–206 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-019-00922-9

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Received: 17 July 2019
Accepted: 01 August 2019
Published: 22 August 2019
Issue Date: January 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-019-00922-9

Keywords

Formaldehyde
Air
Microbe–plant technology
Redox reaction
Enzymatic reaction