Science Forums 2

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

…See also http://www.aih.org.au/mburchett_transcript_040305.pdf for a transcript of a talk Prof Burchett gave to the Australian Institute of Horticulture

A very interesting and straightforward paper. Particularly, I think, the finding that a specific concentration of total volatile organic compounds – about 100 parts per billion – is necessary to “kick start the metabolic induction process for VOC removal”, indicating that the process is an interactive, dynamic one rather than a passive one, as one might expect from plants.

The obvious implication of the experiments Burchett, Wood, Orwell, Tarran, Torpy, and Alquezar’s paper describe is that common potted plants (the plants, not their soil) can effectively remove common VOCs – very useful, especially in buildings such as leased commercial offices, where the tenants have little control over VOC sources such as building materials.

The link in post one appears broken – I found Burchett, Wood, Orwell, Tarran, Torpy, and Alquezar’s paper at its last (10/4/2006) archive.org page.