Air-filtering Plants

            In homes as well as space stations, plants can help to clean the air. Research scientists at NASA, seeking an air purification system for space vehicles, have found several popular houseplants that will remove formaldehyde from the air. This very common indoor air pollutant is released by all sorts of construction and decorating materials and by personal-care products.

            Nephthytis (Syngonium podophyllum) and golden pothos (Scindapsus aureus) proved very effective, reducing the concentration of formaldehyde gas in a chamber by two-thirds in 24 hours. Spider plant (Chlorophytum elatum vittatum) was even better, removing over 90% of the gas in the same period. The soil in the pots also helped, due to certain microbes in it that metabolize formaldehyde (a good reason to use soil instead of soil less mixes).

            The NASA research indicates that a spider plant in a one-gallon container will remove 1/60 to 1/70 of the formaldehyde in a well-insulated 1,800 square foot home. Thus 60 to 70 of these plants would be needed to keep a home this size free of formaldehyde.

Reprinted from a 1985 Bulletin
EHS Bulletin   6          February 1997

Reprinted again from EHS Bulletin February 1997