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Mitigation of indoor air pollutants using Areca palm potted plants in real-life settings

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Abstract

Deterioration of indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a serious concern as people spend lots of time indoors and prolonged pollution exposure can result in adverse health outcomes. Indoor plants can phytoremediate a wide variety of indoor contaminants. Nonetheless, few experiments have demonstrated their efficacy in real-time environments. Therefore, the present study aims to experimentally assess the efficiency of Areca palm potted plants in phytoremediation of primary indoor air pollutant viz. total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) levels from real-world indoor spaces, for the first time. Four discrete naturally ventilated experimental sites (I-IV) situated at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) were used. For over a period of 4 months, the sites were monitored using zero plants as a control (1–4 week), three plants (5–8 week), six plants (9–12 week), and nine plants (13–16 week), respectively. Present results indicate that Areca palm potted plants can effectively reduce the TVOCs, CO2, and CO levels by 88.16% in site IV, 52.33% and 95.70% in site III, respectively. The current study concluded that Areca palm potted plants offer an efficient, cost-effective, self-regulating, sustainable solution for improving indoor air quality and thereby human well-being and productivity in closed and confined spaces.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files]. Further, the datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Director, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, CSIR-IHBT for providing necessary facilities. Authors are also thankful to the staff members of floriculture lab, chemistry lab, canteen, and library for their kind cooperation.

Funding

This study is funded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, under the project “Agro-technologies for promotion of potential medicinal, aromatic and commercially important crops for societal and environmental benefit (MLP-0202) and Aroma Mission (HCP-0007)”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Floriculture Laboratory, Agrotechnology of Medicinal, Aromatic and Commercially Important Plants Division, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, P.O. Box 6, Palampur, (H.P.), 176061, India

    Bhavya Bhargava, Sandeep Malhotra, Anjali Chandel & Anjali Rakwal

  2. High Altitude Biology Division, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Himalayan BioresourceTechnology, P.O. Box 6, Palampur, (H.P.), 176061, India

    Rachit Raghav Kashwap

  3. Biotechnology Division, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Himalayan BioresourceTechnology, P.O. Box 6, Palampur, (H.P.), 176061, India

    Sanjay Kumar

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  1. Bhavya Bhargava
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  2. Sandeep Malhotra
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  3. Anjali Chandel
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  4. Anjali Rakwal
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  5. Rachit Raghav Kashwap
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  6. Sanjay Kumar
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Contributions

BB and SK conceived the concept. BB and SK framed the experimental design. BB, SM, AC, AR, and RRK: data taken and statistical analysis. BB, AC, and SK: manuscript written and edition.

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Correspondence to Bhavya Bhargava.

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Bhargava, B., Malhotra, S., Chandel, A. et al. Mitigation of indoor air pollutants using Areca palm potted plants in real-life settings. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 8898–8906 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11177-1

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