Efficiency of environmental resources is one of the goals of the sustainable development of a building and its sanitation. Sanitation efficiency was sought through hybrid offsite system, which was a decentralization of sanitation services. This study proposed a hybrid onsite system combining phytoarchitecture and phytosanitation, which empowers renewable building plants to improve resource efficiency, as well as sustainable building environmental health. Based on various empirical studies on sanitation management in rural and urban areas in many places, this retrospective study identified three wastewater disposal efficiencies. It was through quantity distribution, environmental media in which the greywater could be discharged, and quality treatment. The results marked the feasibility of wastewater services for greywater treatment, which served at least 75% of the wastewater quantity. Its main contribution was related to the distribution of discharge to all environmental media, and the improvement of the quality of greywater at its disposal. Building plants could be used for hybrid onsite system, thereby making these plants multifunctional to maintain the quality of the building environment. This hybrid onsite phytosanitation system covered various feasibility features compared to other existing systems. Implementation was flexible for new provisions and adaptation to existing systems for both urban and rural areas. Thus, the service maintained sustainable buildings and environmental health.

The application of surfactants is an effective way to inhibit the migration of organic contaminants (OCs) from soil to plants, and thus would be a great candidate method for producing safe agricultural products in organic-contaminated farmland. In this study, it was found that cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTMAB) reduced the OCs in cabbage by 22.0–64.1%, and those in lettuce by 18.8–36.5%. We developed a mathematical model to predict the accumulation of OCs in plants in the presence of surfactants. The successive partitioning of OCs among three phases, namely, soil, soil water and plant roots, was considered. The equilibrium of OC between the soil and soil water was scaled using the sorption coefficient of OCs on soils normalized by the soil organic carbon (Kₒc) and carbon-normalized OCs sorption coefficient with the sorbed surfactants (Kₛₛ). To precisely calculate the Kₒc and Kₛₛ, the bioavailable and bound OCs were measured using a sequential extraction method. Linear positive correlations between the logarithm of Kₒc (or Kₛₛ) and the logarithm of the octanol-water partition coefficient (log Kₒw) of OCs were established for laterite soils, paddy soils and black soils. In the presence of CTMAB, the equilibrium of OCs between the soil water and plant roots was scaled using the carbon-normalized OC sorption coefficient with the sorbed surfactants (Kₛf), whose logarithmic value was linearly correlated with the log Kₒw of the OCs. A three-phase-successive partition-limited model was developed based on these relationships, demonstrating an average prediction accuracy of 76.6 ± 36.8%. Our results indicated that the decrease in bioavailable OCs in soils and the increase in sorption of OCs on roots should be taken into consideration when predicting plant uptake. This research provides a validated mathematical model for predicting the concentration of OCs in plants in the presence of surfactants.

Reduction of particulate matter (PM) has emerged as one of the most significant challenges in public health and environment protection worldwide. To address PM-related problems and effectively remove fine particulate matter (PM2.5), environmentalists proposed tree planting and afforestation as eco-friendly strategies. However, the PM removal effect of plants and its primary mechanism remains uncertain. In this study, we experimentally investigated the PM removal performance of five plant species in a closed chamber and the effects of relative humidity (RH) caused by plant evapotranspiration, as a governing parameter. On the basis of the PM removal test for various plant species, we selected Epipremnum aureum (Scindapsus) as a representative plant to identify the PM removal efficiency depending on evapotranspiration and particle type. Results showed that Scindapsus yielded a high PM removal efficiency for smoke type PM2.5 under active transpiration. We examined the correlation of PM removal and relative humidity (RH) and evaluated the increased effect of RH on PM2.5 removal by using a plant-inspired in vitro model. Based on the present results, the increase of RH due to evapotranspiration is crucial to the reduction of PM2.5 using plants.

The presence of plant leaves has been shown to lower the risks of health problems by reducing atmospheric particulate matter (PM). Leaf PM accumulation capacity will saturate in the absence of runoff. Rainfall is an effective way for PM to “wash off” into the soil and renew leaf PM accumulation. However, little is known about how PM wash-off varies with PM size and health problems caused by particulate pollution vary with PM size. This study thus used artificial rainfall with six plant species to find out how size-fractioned PM are washed off during rain processes. Total wash-off masses in fine, coarse and large fractions were 0.6–10.3 μg/cm2, 1.0–18.8 μg/cm2 and 4.5–60.1 μg/cm2 respectively. P. orientalis (cypress) and E. japonicus (evergreen broadleaved shrub) had the largest wash-off masses in each fraction during rainfall. P. cerasifera (deciduous broadleaved shrub) had the largest cumulative wash-off rates in each fraction. Rainfall intensity had more influence on wash-off masses and rates of large particles for six species and for small particles in evergreen species, but limited effect on wash-off proportions. Wash-off proportions decreased in large particles and increased in small particles along with rainfall. The results provide information for PM accumulation renewal of plants used for urban greening.

N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamide (N-EtFOSA) is an important perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) precursor (PreFOS) which is used in sulfluramid. The present work studied the uptake, translocation and metabolism of N-EtFOSA in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) and pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima L.) by hydroponic exposure. Except for parent N-EtFOSA, its metabolites of perfluorooctane sulfonamide acetate (FOSAA), perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA), PFOS, perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) and perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) were detected in the roots and shoots of all the three plant species examined. This suggested that plant roots could take up N-EtFOSA from solutions efficiently, and translocate to shoots. A positive correlation was found between root concentration factors (RCFs) of N-EtFOSA and root lipid content. Much higher proportion of N-EtFOSA transformation products in plant tissues than in the solutions suggested that N-EtFOSA could be in vivo metabolized in plant roots and shoots to FOSAA, PFOSA and PFOS, and other additional shorter-chain perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs), including PFHxS and PFBS. The results suggested that plants had biotransformation pathways to N-EtFOSA that were different than those from microorganisms and animals. This study provides important information about the uptake and metabolism of PreFOSs in plants.