I want more oxygen in my house. how many plants per one human?

Question

I want to get some plants to breathe my carbon dioxide that i exhale and then they will give me some oxygen. So is one plant enough to get rid of all my carbon dioxide or should i get lots? do they exhale as much oxygen as we exhale carbon dioxide?

Answer 1

Houses exchange air with the outdoors faster than your plants can create a significant concentration gradient of oxygen. However more important to you is the quality of air, the contaminants the plant removes from vapors items inside the house exhaust. Houseplants trap and absorb many pollutants from household products. They do renew the air and they clean it. The larger the total leaf and soil surface area the more oxygen and air scrubbing the plant can achieve. As few as 15 houseplants, in an average-size home, can significantly reduce the quantity of indoor contaminants.
http://www.plantea.com/houseplants.htm
http://www.thegreenguide.com/blog/tow/kw/indoor_air_quality
"Some of the best plants for purifying the air are: the Areca Palm, the Golden Pothos, the Ficus, the Rubber Plant, English Ivy and the ever popular Spider Plant."
http://www.perc.ca/PEN/2000-05/s-battle.html
Peace lily, bamboo palm, English ivy, mums, and gerbera daisies are recommended as air cleaning plants easy to grow.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/10/top_5_plants_fo.php

Plant Studies showed air cleansing took place between the soil and air surface. The actual work is done by the "common soil microorganisms" most of which are "known to be capable of biodegrading toxic chemicals when activated by plant root growth."
http://www.practicalasthma.net/pages/topics/aaplants.htm


It takes "17.5 trees per person" to produce ogygen but 20 trees per person to consume the CO2 according to NASA so they do not produce as much oxygen as we consume.
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/Results/96/winner/seis.html

This should give you a very rough point of comparison to the number of plants needed to supply oxygen for life support in a closed system.
"A net production of 500 g to 600 g of dry algae per man per day is required for oxygen regeneration" This would be about 850-1000 g wet algae.
http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?7000907
"6 liters of algae water will produce... 600 liters of oxygen, and consume 720 liters of CO2" thus 6 liters of algae water per person will supply sufficient oxygen.
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3g.html

"A British chemist once inhabited a sealed plant growth chamber for 15 days, obtaining all of his oxygen from 30,000 wheat plants. " from article by Amy Snyder
http://www.rso.cornell.edu/scitech/archive/97sum/plants.html

Answer 2

I once visited a room packed with plants. The room was large. The plants covered every shelf, floor to ceiling. It must have taken a lot of work to water them every day. But the air: It was like being in a jungle, a richly planted forest. Never in my life have I ever experienced air like that. Now I wonder if one used air filtration to get rid of pollutants, wouldn't that be smart? And where can we buy a sensitive CO2 detector so we can monitor levels? And if you were sleeping in the room with the plants, would they use up the oxygen at night and deprive you of it? We need real world data. I need to go over all the links in the first, very informative reply to the post. Thank you gardengallivant!

Answer 3

Industrial Cryogenic Oxygen Gas Plants

Cryogenic oxygen gas plants are available in different ranges and capacity which are manufactured with Italian Boschi technology.

for more detail
http://yellowpages.eindiabusiness.com/plantmachinery/oxygen-nitrogen-acetylene-and-gas-plants-equipment.html

Answer 4

I have researched this before and it is much better to open a couple of windows a couple times a day. The amount of plants needed and the light needed for the plants to produce O2 making it not very efficient.

Answer 5

English Ivy Bonsai

Answer 6

Worth a shot

Answer 7

Not too many, plants also consume oxygen, particularily at night...So if you turn your house into a jungle ventilate at night:))

Answer 8

Even a whole house full of plants will not make a noticeable difference.