Efficiency of sustainable phytoremediation technology in improving indoor air quality using ornamental plants in pharmaceutical laboratories

Indoor air pollution, especially in pharmaceutical laboratories, poses significant health risks due to the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, acetophenone, and benzaldehyde. This study evaluates the efficiency of air phytoremediation technology using four ornamental plant species, Cordyline fruticosa , Syngonium podophyllum , Epipremnum aureum and Chlorophytum comosum to improve Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) by acting as Plant-Based Bio-Filters (PBBFs) in both pot-based and green wall configurations.VOC concentrations were monitored in a real pharmaceutical organic laboratory. Morphological and physiological plant traits including total chlorophyll content, relative water content (RWC), leaf pH, ascorbic acid concentration, stomatal density, and cuticle wax content were evaluated. Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) and dust-capturing potential were calculated to assess the resilience and effectiveness of each species under VOCs exposure. Chemometric tools Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures-Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) were applied to identify species with superior removal efficiency and to explore the relationship between plant traits and VOC uptake.Among the studied species, Cordyline fruticosa demonstrated the highest removal efficiency for VOCs (87.50%), CO (88.23%), and CO₂ (36.78%), as well as the highest APTI (14.76%), stomatal density (94.34 stomata/mm²), and chlorophyll content. Syngonium podophyllum also showed complete (100%) removal of particulate matter (PM _2.5 and PM ₁₀ ) and performed effectively in CO (70.58%) and CO₂ (31.27%) reduction. Multivariate analysis confirmed that plants with higher physiological resilience and morphological surface complexity had significantly greater phytoremediation capacity.This study confirms the potential of PBBFs, especially using Cordyline fruticosa and Syngonium podophyllum , as a viable, cost-effective, and sustainable approach to mitigate indoor VOCs and improve air quality in pharmaceutical labs. The findings support integrating ornamental plants into indoor environment as a natural solution for IAQ management.