Farzaneh Borzabadi Farahani, Mahmood Alimohammadi, Jamshid Rahimi, Sanaz Khoramipour, Emad Dehghanifard,
Volume 18, Issue 2 (9-2025)
Background and Objective: People spend over 90% of their time indoors, where air pollutant concentrations—including volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—are significantly higher than outdoors. Among these VOCs, benzene is particularly critical due to its carcinogenic properties. Phytoremediation offers a sustainable solution for removing such pollutants from indoor environments. This study evaluates the benzene-reduction efficiency of two ornamental plant species, Aglaonema ‘Silver’ and Chlorophytum comosum, under controlled temperature and humidity conditions.
Materials and Methods: The plants were exposed to two temperature levels (18°C and 24°C) and two relative humidity conditions (35% and 50%). Benzene was introduced into sealed chambers at concentrations of 1, 0.5, 0.25, and 0.125 µL/mL. After 12 hours of exposure, benzene reduction was quantified using gas chromatography.
Results: At 20°C and 35% RH, Aglaonema 'Silver' removed 96% of benzene, outperforming Chlorophytum comosum (38%). Removal efficiency depended on species, environmental conditions, and initial concentration. Predictive models (Eq. 2–3) correlated strongly with experimental data (R² > 0.9).
Conclusion: Aglaonema 'Silver' demonstrated superior benzene removal compared to Chlorophytum comosum under lower temperature and humidity conditions. Our findings highlight that selecting plant species adapted to specific environmental parameters can significantly improve phytoremediation effectiveness. Furthermore, the proposed model indicates that elevated temperature and humidity levels may enhance benzene removal efficiency by indoor plants.
