Methodology for the quantification of the absorption potential of greenhouse - and pollutant gases by climbing plants used in façade greening; a case study on ivy (Hedera helix)

How much do specific climbing plants contribute to the cleansing or absorption of harmful greenhouse and pollutant gases; often regarded as the main environmental threat in cities due to their adverse effects on human health? One of the main hurdles in the quantification of such ecosystem services is associated with the difficulty to obtain and design systems that provide detailed information on the interaction between various gases and the plant in question. To tackle these questions, two highly precise and accurate instruments, namely a mid-infrared laser absorption spectrometer (TDL) and a cavity-ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) were used to monitor the fate of gases when exposed to façade climbing plants like ivy. In a laboratory setting, a relaxation type of experiment was used consisting of a reaction chamber equipped with plant species and continuously flushed by synthetic air. This setup was used to determine the timescales of decay after short injections of the above-mentioned gases. After these injections, all gases followed simple exponential decay curves. N₂O, a non-reactive (inert) tropospheric gas, was used as a reference to which all other gases were compared and thereby quantified. This paper focuses on the detailed description of methods and processes to analyse the gas-absorptive behaviour of plants when exposed to gaseous pollutants. For demonstration purposes, quantified absorption features of nitrogen oxide (NO₂) are presented for ivy of the variety Hedera helix “Plattensee”. Results of this method of quantification showed that - as compared to N₂O (control), - NO₂ had a reduced residence time (time scale) of 100 s, while N₂O resulted in a 600 s residence time (indicating no interference with the plant). This is equivalent to a 0.3 cm/s deposition velocity/ absorption rate of NO₂ under light conditions.