A model for uptake of pollutants by vegetation

Abstract

A mass transfer approach is used in developing a practical mathematical model of gaseous pollutant uptake by leaves in which a series of resistances is summed across a concentration difference. The body of information presented in this paper is directed to plant pathologists or physiologists in the field of vegetal-pollutant effects and to people interested in the natural removal of air pollutants by vegetation. Correlations are given to calculate the aerodynamic and the stomatal resistances to uptake, while both a qualitative investigation and quantitative estimates are made of the mesophyllic resistance. The factors which control the aerodynamic resistance, ra, are leaf size and wind speed, while the leaf physiology is the determinant of the stomatal resistance, rs. It is noted that the chemical reaction rate and pollutant diffusivity in the mesophyll control the mesophyllic resistance, rm, though the overall gas phase mesophyllic resistance, Hrm, is strongly a function of pollutant solubility in water. Finally, the overall model is compared to earlier experimental work on vegetal uptake of SO2. © 1977 Air & Waste Management Association.