The Role of Trees in Winter Air Purification on Children’s Routes to School

Air pollution is now considered to be the world’s largest environmental health threat accounting for millions of deaths globally each year. The social group that is particularly exposed to the harmful effects of air pollution is the children. A daily route to school can constitute an important component of children’s physical activity, but air pollution can pose a threat to their health. Numerous studies have proved high loads of PM can be effectively reduced by vegetation. Little is however known, whether vegetation can also reduce PM during the leaf dormancy period. In this study, we investigated the role of trees in PM removal on children’s routes to schools during winter. We investigated walking routes to selected schools in Warsaw, by examining the adjacent vegetation and PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations and the presence of local black-smoke-belching stoves. We found that proximity to local CHP emitters had the strongest impact on pollution on the way to schools, while not finding a significant relationship between dense greenery and PM loads. Even more, the highest density of vegetation along walking routes tended to stimulate higher PM concentrations. The results obtained show the poor performance of tree canopy in reducing PM loads during winter.

Spatial-Temporal Variation of Air PM2.5 and PM10 within Different Types of Vegetation during Winter in an Urban Riparian Zone of Shanghai

Particulate matter (PM) in urban riparian green spaces are undesirable for human participation in outdoor activities, especially PM2.5 and PM10. The PM deposition, dispersion and modification are influenced by various factors including vegetation, water bodies and meteorological conditions. This study aimed to investigate the impact of vegetation structures and the river’s presence on PM in riparian zones. The spatial-temporal variations of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in three riparian vegetation communities with different structures (open grassland (G), arbor-grass (AG) and arbor-shrub-grass (ASG) woodlands) were monitored under relatively stable environment. The removal percentages (RP) and ratios of PM2.5 and PM10 were calculated and compared to identify the removal effect of vegetation structures and the river’s presence. It is found that: (1) when the wind was static (hourly wind speed < 0.2 m/s), the RP was ranked as follows: G > AG > ASG. When the wind was mild (0.2 m/s < hourly wind speed < 2 m/s), the RP was ranked as follows: G > ASG > AG. Generally, the G had the best removal effect during the monitoring period; (2) the lowest RP occurred in the middle of the G (–3.4% for PM2.5, 1.8% for PM10) while the highest RP were found in middle of the AG and ASG, respectively (AG: 2.1% for PM2.5, 6.7% for PM10; ASG: 2.4% for PM2.5, 6.3% for PM10). Vegetation cover changed the way of natural deposition and dispersion; (3) compared with static periods, PM removal percentages were significantly reduced under mild wind conditions, and they were positively correlated with wind speed during the mild-wind period. Thus, a piecewise function was inferred between wind speed and PM removal percentage; (4) for all three communities, the 1 m-to-river PM2.5/PM10 ratio was significantly lower than that at 6 m and 11 m, even lower than that in the ambient atmosphere. The river likely promoted the hygroscopic growth of PM2.5 and the generation of larger-sized particles by coagulation effect. Based on these findings, open grassland space is preferred alongside rivers and space for outdoor activities is suggested under canopies in the middle of woodlands.

Effectiveness of plants and green infrastructure utilization in ambient particulate matter removal

Air pollution is regarded as an increasingly threatening, major environmental risk for human health. Seven million deaths are attributed to air pollution each year, 91% of which is due to particulate matter. Vegetation is a xenobiotic means of removing particulate matter. This review presents the mechanisms of PM capture by plants and factors that influence PM reduction in the atmosphere. Vegetation is ubiquitously approved as a PM removal solution in cities, taking various forms of green infrastructure. This review also refers to the effectiveness of plant exploitation in GI: trees, grasslands, green roofs, living walls, water reservoirs, and urban farming. Finally, methods of increasing the PM removal by plants, such as species selection, biodiversity increase, PAH-degrading phyllospheric endophytes, transgenic plants and microorganisms, are presented.

Evaluation of Particulate Matter Capture and Long-Term Clogging Characteristics of Different Filter Media for Pavement Runoff Treatment

The removal of particulate matter (PM) by filter media during filtration process can mitigate the pavement runoff pollution effectively. However, this process also makes the filter media prone to clogging. To better understand the size ranges of PM captured by filter media and the subsequent impact on the clogging process, filtration test and clogging test were conducted on five types of filter media. The effect of layer thickness and grain size of different filter media on particle removal efficiency was evaluated, based on the results of PM removal rate and the particle size distribution. The subsequent long-term clogging characteristics of different filter media were also investigated. The results showed that filter media presented different capabilities to capture PM, which could be enhanced by less layer thickness or finer grain size. Normally, PM with the size range of over 49 μm could be captured effectively if proper layer thickness and grain size of filter media were selected. Besides, PM removal rate was not related to the clogging resistance of filter media. Though it can capture a larger amount of PM, Vesuvianite still maintained remarkable clogging resistance. The results will be beneficial to filter media selection and system design optimization for pavement runoff treatment.

Are Sansevieria trifasciata better for airborne particulate matter removal dead or alive?

Particulate matter (PM) is a common air pollutant linked to many human deaths and illnesses worldwide. Once emitted in the air, PM is most effectively removed by plants in phytoremediation. While the physical mechanics and factors of phytoremediation have been well-studied, there has been little attention regarding its biological mechanisms. In this empirical study, we measure the net effect of biological processes in Sansevieria trifasciata on its ability to remove PM from an enclosed space by comparing the time taken for PM to decrease in enclosures containing living specimens versus dried and pressed specimens. Our results show that live specimens are in fact worse at removing PM from their enclosures as compared to dried and pressed specimens. This suggests that biological processes can be detrimental to PM removal for some plants species.