Selecting Plant Types to Control Air Pollution and Developing Software to Plan Green Open Space in the Urban Area

Abstract

The decrease in air quality becomes one of the development impacts that must be controlled deliberately. Planting trees is crucial for reducing the total number of dust and gas pollutants as it can restrain air pollution through absorption and adsorption. This research aimed at (a) determining the most appropriate types of plants for controlling air pollution and (b) developing software to plan the need for Green Open Space (GOS) in the urban city. The criteria of assessment for measuring the ability of a plant to absorb pollutant gas consisted of: (a) the density level of tree-crown, (b) plant combination, (c) thickness level of leaf, (d) the total number of leaves, and (e) plant distance. Meanwhile, the criteria for assessing the ability of the plant to adsorb dust particles comprised: (a) the roughness of leaf surface structure, (b) leaf width, (c) density level of tree-crown, (d) texture of stem skin surface, and (e) density level of the twig. The results of the research demonstrated that plants of Angsana (Pterocarpus indicus), Kihujan (Samanea saman), and Acacia (Acacia auriculiformis) were very appropriate for absorbing pollutant gas. Meanwhile, the good plants for adsorbing dust particles involved Angsana, Kihujan, Acacia, Tanjung (Mimusops elengi), Kersen (Mutingia calabura), Ketapang (Terminalia cattapa), and red Dadap (Erythrina crista-galli) by the level of adsorption ability around 65-75%. The successfully developed software could present suitability between Green Open Space (GOS) calculated manually and the one counted by software.

The effect of vegetation in reducing air pollution in an urban environment: A review

“…For this reason, the Center for Road and Bridge Research and Development has conducted research to minimize the concentration of CO by examining the types of plants that have positive (good) potential. This is actually indirectly a solution to reducing CO2 concentration [16].…”

“…Some plants have the ability to absorb and remove certain pollutants from air. Some examples of plants that are known to have phytoremediation abilities against air pollution are large trees such as oak, teak, and fir trees, which have the ability to absorb dust particles and pollutant gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) [16]. Broadleaf plants such as betel ivory (Scindapsus aureus) and mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata) can help reduce the concentration of formaldehyde, which is a common pollutant in indoor air; chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium), absorb ammonia and formaldehyde, bamboo plants have the ability to absorb nitrogen dioxide and dust particles from the air; aquatic plants such as water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and azolla (Azolla spp.)…”