House plants can improve air quality in the closed spaces of our homes and jobs, acting like small ones bio-airfirers. The Higher Institute of Health (ISS) has in fact underlined how the external pollution of the internal air, and not only the external one, is one of the Environmental risk factors more relevant for our health. The managers of indoor pollution are the organic volatile compounds (ORGANICS COMPOUNDS volatileVoc) who enter our homes by opening the windows (such as the smog of cars), but which are also produced inside by electronic devices, detergents, creams, even from the furniture itself, from the furniture to the carpet. Plants are able to absorb them And so purify the air of our homes, but that’s not all: in a study conducted by researchers from the University of Washington in 2018 some plants were genetically modified To increase their detox effectiveness even more, with excellent results.
A mammals gene inserted in plants
We hear about phytodepuration especially in relation to the use of plants for the purification of waterfall And landbut the concept also applies to the air in our homes. In addition to “helping us” by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and restoring us oxygen (or2), the plants also absorb the VOCs through the stoma and the leaf cuticle, further purifying the air of our homes. One of the problems that emerged from the various studies is that they need Many plants To get results measurable.
To solve it, someone thought of applying genetic mutations On some plants, introducing specific genes in their DNA to make their action purifying even more effective. This is what some researchers from the University of Washington did in 2018: they manipulated theEdera of the devil (Epipremnum Aureum)inserting a gene for the production ofcytochrome enzyme p450 2e1present in many mammals, to promote the detox of the air. A curiosity: it is the same enzyme that in mammals helps to eliminate toxins from the body, for example in the human body he works in liver And it helps us to eliminate waste or unwanted substances.
The experiment showed that the modified ivy it removed benzene up to 4.7 times more of the normal one e In just 6 days He managed to completely eliminate chloroform, a compound on which the normal unrealized ivy does not act at all!
The phytodepuration: from NASA to Italy
The first to study to confirm the effectiveness of plants in the phytodepuration The NASA scientists were of the air in the 1980s. Factors such as light, temperature and other more or less predictable conditions also affect the efficiency of the process in a real environment. That’s why an experimental project conducted in collaboration between theEastern Piedmont University and the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (HARP) of the Valle d’Aosta, tried to measure the effectiveness of the nickep of indoor air in Real environments: An office adjacent to a productive air, a hairdresser salon, the box of a gas station and a kindergarten.
Among those examined, the indoor environment in which the phytodepuration was more efficient was theoffice: in this environment, with controlled temperature and one mechanical ventilation expected, the effect of interior plants has allowed to decrease the total voc concentration of approximately 45%. The tests are negative, however, in very variable voc concentration environments (e.g. a productive environment) or in those where there is one continuous contamination with The external air, like the gas station box, where the door was continuously opened, thus letting pollution, smog and air from the outside enter.
