Formaldehyde is a typical indoor air pollutant that has numerous adverse health problems in modern living conditions. Phytoremediation that use plants to remove contaminants from polluted media can be applied to improve indoor air quality. Two sets of experiments; 1) two rooms in newly built auditorium and 2) a bed room in 2-year-old apartment; were performed to investigate plant effects on indoor formaldehyde concentration.
It was observed from the experiments that plant can help decontaminating formaldehyde at low concentration level (0.1 ppm) but the effects decreased considerably at high concentration (1ppm). The purification effects of indoor plant also showed the periodic pattern due to its physiological activity. More purification was observed as increasing plant density in the bed room but the formaldehyde concentration returned the original concentration level in two days after removing plants. It was suggested from the results that air purification using plants is an effective means of reduction on indoor formaldehyde level, though, reduction of source is highly desirable when the concentration level is high. The results also suggest that introducing supplementary purifying aids and/or efficient ventilation could be considered due to periodic removal pattern of plant.

• 박소영(부경대학교 해양공학과) | So Young Park
• 성기준(부경대학교 생태공학) | Ki June Sung Corresponding Author