Biowall

A 24-square meter plant wall – more specifically a “biowall” – was built in the Robertson Building. The biowall was planted with a variety of exotic and native indoor flowering plants. Each plant has its own pocket in a special planting material (they don’t tell you the exact fabric they use). Water filters through the material to the plants’ roots and fresh air is continually pumped into the room via the living biowall.

The biowall purifies and cleans the air. The plants were chosen for their ability to tolerate indoor lighting conditions and their ability to improve indoor air quality. Some of the common contaminants come from traffic outdoors as well as off-gassing from furniture, paints, drywall, photocopiers, and human fragrances in the building.

The biowall helps filter Volatile Organic Compounds or VOC’s. VOC’s are actually a group of pollutants indoors and out. While small concentrations of these chemicals aren’t dangerous, over time they can contribute to “sick building syndrome,” which can include eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, and dizziness.

The biowall only needs typical plant maintenance including occasional dusting and removal of wilting foliage. Two 1000 watt lights provide supplemental lighting.

Living Biowall

A separate biowall was installed in the IL Centre. It’s 3 stories high and is aesthetically pleasing as well as acting as a biofilter which removes the VOCs and CO2 from the air.

Plants are easily swapped if they don’t thrive. The plants that work on the wall will vary depending on its requirements. Leafy ferns do better than Hibiscus, and orchids have done very well. Here’s a rundown of the plants used in the biowall:

• Aglaonema (Algaomema commutatum) & Spathiphyllum spp. (mixed aroids)
• Spider plant (Chlorophytum)
• Croton (Codiaeum)
• Cordyline
• Dragon Plant (Dracaena)
• Ficus (verigated)
• Rubber Plant (Ficus Elastica)
• Ivy (Hedera)
• Palms (Dypsis, Howea, or Chamaedorea spp.)
• Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum)
• Philodendron (several species)
• Snake plant (Sansevieria)
• Purple Heart (Setcreasea pallida, similar to the common Tradescantia)
• Umbrella Plant (Schlefera)

Diagram of basic biowall setup

Two layers of a porous material make up the fabric attached to the concrete wall. It’s 1 inch thick and is made of loosely woven plastic screwed to the wall in pieces. The top layer has slits cut into it where the plants are placed. The roots hold the plants in place and grow between the layers. The plants chosen don’t spread pollen and the constantly running water and fresh air prevent mold. A vapour barrier was installed in front of the concrete and behind the drywall to prevent moisture from spreading. What makes this vertical garden into a biowall are the fans that draw the air from each of the three floors to circulate through the building. You can see an informative flash image at queensu.

St. Gabriel's Parish living wall 3m x 8m

Nedlaw Living Walls make living walls with a purpose – to clean out indoor air pollutants and allergens. It’s a different focus than standard living walls/vertical gardens. Given the correct installation of the living walls, they can actually replace traditional air filters in your home.

The leaves of the plants change the carbon dioxide into oxygen, but it’s the roots of the plants that take out most of the chemicals according to multiple studies. The living walls from Naturaire facilitate the process of the air cleaning by using a fan and drawing air from the home through the roots of the plants and back out into the room. That process helps clean out the home of the over 300 voc’s (volatile organic compounds) that can potentially be found there.

The living wall system can degrade and breakdown the VOC’s quickly and naturally, even in large volumes of air and acts as a completely natural biofilter. Since they no only can capture, but also breakdown the VOC’s, they end up being able to remove many harmful pollutants that other air filters can’t. According to their website, the air quality of a space relying almost entirely on an active living wall is at least as good as a similar indoor space using a high-tech ventilation system that replaces the building air up to six times per hour.

You can make the living wall system an active biofilter in one of two ways: hooking it up to the HVAC or using a fan in the back of the living wall. The HVAC is the most effective way because it can filter the air of the whole house. The air is drawn through the living wall and cleaned, then into the HVAC system and then disseminated through the house. The second method works as well, but is more localized as it just draws and circulates the air from a particular room.

Remington Group Living Wall freestanding 2 sided wall 35 meters square

How well does the system work?
During studies at the University of Guelph, common indoor air pollutants were released into the air to determine the living wall’s effect on the VOC’s. A single pass through the Living Wall removed up to 80% of the formaldehyde, 50% of the toluene and 10% of TCE (trichloroethylene). The filter is only 5 cm thick, but the ability to have such a strong effect on the chemicals is amazing.

“Concentrations of toluene and formaldehyde in the aquatic system did not increase during the four-week experiment, suggesting that these materials were readily metabolized. TCE levels in the aquatic system initially did increase slightly, but then plateaued, suggesting a possible capability to degrade this compound. Even before the challenge, we knew that two to three percent of the bacteria present had the ability to break down VOCs.” -From their website

“Through photosynthesis, green plants are able to convert CO₂ — which is considered an indoor pollutant — into oxygen. The true impact of this on indoor air quality is minor. To be a true CO₂ scrubber would require over 10m² of wall per occupant instead of the typical 0.2m²required to provide clean air.”

How big do you want the living wall?

The suggested dimensions are 1 square meter or yard of active living wall or biofilter (a living wall with an air circulation system attached) for every 100 square feet of floor space.

Remington Vertical Garden

WESST Corporation (Women’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Team) 420 sq ft

Living walls home owner

Sassafraz Restaurant, Toronto living wall 22 sq meters

The length of the vertical gardens in all of Kyocera Group locations are 294m (965ft), which actually covers a total area of 775m² (8,342ft²). The growth of these Green Curtains will be able to absorb roughly 2,713kg-CO₂ (5981lb-CO₂) per year, or roughly the same amount as 194 cedar trees.

June 15

July 6

July 24

I can’t believe how quickly the vines covered that space. Those must be some ridiculously quick growing vines.

For the energy savings of this living wall/green curtain, Kyocera found that the Green Curtains can decrease the temperature by as much as 15 degrees C (27 degrees F). That’s amazing.

The study was originally intended to find ways to clean up the air in space.. but the knowledge is very useful here as well.

Indoor air pollution is often worse than outdoor air due to all the chemicals we have in our homes. From cleaners and disinfectants to the VOC’s emitted from carpets and paints etc, indoor air pollution sometimes builds up.

The study showed that many houseplants also remove harmful elements such as trichloroethylene, benzene, and formaldehyde from the air.. plus they’re all removing CO2 anyways.

Three main chemicals are found in your home. Trichloroethylene is used in paints and varnishes, Formaldehyde is used in many building materials and Benzene is found often in paints.

Although all plants help indoor air pollution, some are better than others in absorbing chemicals and removing CO2

You can get most of these houseplants right from your nursery. It’s always handy to have some plants in your home.. but these are some of the best:

• Philodendron scandens or domesticum
• Dracaena
• English ivy
• Spider plant
• golden pothos
• peace lily
• Chinese evergreen

Here’s a couple links to a couple of the studies done by NASA:

Here and Here
The below excepts are directly from NASA.. the first quote indicates how the plants do it:

“NASA’s research with foliage houseplants during the past 10 years has produced a new concept in indoor air quality improvement. This new and exciting technology is quite simple. Both plant leaves and roots are utilized in removing trace levels of toxic vapors from inside tightly sealed buildings. Low levels of chemicals such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde can be removed from indoor environments by plant leaves alone, while higher concentrations of numerous toxic chemicals can be removed by filtering indoor air through the plant roots surrounded by activated carbon. The activated carbon absorbs large quantities of the toxic chemicals and retains them until the plant roots and associated microorganisms degrade and assimilate these chemicals.”

“The technology of using houseplant leaves for reducing volatile organics inside closed facilities has been demonstrated with formaldehyde and benzene. Philodendrons are among the most effective plants tested to date.”