Characteristics of potted plants for removing offensive odors

Plants have the capability to remove indoor air pollutants and furthermore to decompose odor molecules in an indoor environment. Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), ammonia (NH₃) and methyl mercaptan (CH₃SH) are the three main offensive odors in a nursing home. It is strongly desired to develop an effective method for reducing those substances. In this study, the pollutant-removing characteristics of a potted plant for three substances, ammonia, formaldehyde and acetone, are examined using a tin oxide gas sensor. As for the results, it became obvious that the removing characteristics for ammonia gas could be indicated using an approximate function of y=aexp(-bx)+c. In this function, the coefficient b stands for the removing effect and c means the offset level of sensor output. The coefficient a stands for the intercept from that level. It can indicate the number of pots and the kind of plants to maintain the clean air quality in an indoor environment. The pothos plant is very available for putting this to practical use.