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Air Purification

The building materials of virtually every new building off-gas harmful chemicals into the air—chemicals like chloroform, trichloroethylene, benzene, xylene, formaldehyde. These chemicals can and do cause multiple health risks to people and animals who live and work in these buildings, making air purification in every building extremely important.

What is most interesting about this subject is that plants are actually very effective at removing these chemicals from the air in large qualtities and at fast rates. NASA did a study on the chemical removal rates of certain plants and found some very informative data on the subject.

Formalehyde is the gas that is most commonly found in buildings. The following table summarizes the results of NASA's test, with the plants that were the most effective at drawing the formaldehyde out of the air at the top.

Common Name	Botanical Name	Removal Rate (Micrograms/Hour)	Horticultural Fact Sheet
Boston fern (a.k.a. Sword Ferns)	Nephrolepis exaltata "Bostoniensis"	1863	University of Florida
Dwarf date palm	Phoenix roebelenii	1385	University of Florida
Bamboo palm	Chamaedorea seifrizii	1350	Horticopia
Janet Craig	Dracaena deremensis	1328	University of Florida
English ivy	Hedera helix	1120	University of Florida
Weeping fig	Ficus benjamina	940	University of Florida
Peace lily	Spathiphyllum "Clevelandii"	939	University of Florida
Areca palm	Chrysalidocarpus lutescens	938	University of Florida
Corn plant	Dracaena fragrans "Massangeana"	938	University of Florida
Lady palm	Rhapis excelsa	876	University of Florida

These rates are actually better than many air purifiers on the market. The only things plants cannot remove from the air that most air purifiers can are dust and mold spores. So, a balanced house would do well to have both plants and an air purifier, but I do think that the plants will be the best investment in the long run.

If you are innterested in reading more in-depth analyses of the NASA data or more information on the idea of using house plants for air purification, check out Wolverton Environmental and S. D. Snyder & Associates.