PM2.5 Dust Suppression by Plant Essential Oil Emulsion

IJEP 46(11): 1055-1064 : Vol. 46 Issue 11 (November 2026)

Full Text

Kamronwit Thipmanee, Thanaporn Doungnapa and Montinee Teerarak*

King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, School of Agricultural Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand

Abstract

Air pollution caused by PM2.5 is a major issue worldwide; in addition to pollution within each country, transboundary pollution also poses a significant health risk. In the current study, oil-in-water emulsions of thirty plant essential oils were developed using different non-ionic surfactants to identify the most effective surfactants to improve solubility and produce a highly negatively charged emulsion system. Eucalyptus, cajeput tree, kaffir lime, lavender and cassumunar ginger essential oils showed superior solubilization capacities with specific surfactants and co-surfactants and their stable emulsions showed no phase separation, with low z-potential values of less than -30 mV. Carboxymethyl cellulose was further added to the five plant essential oil emulsions to improve their physicochemical stability. This addition increased the anionic charge of the eucalyptus, lavender, cajeput tree and cassumunar ginger essential oil emulsions, resulting in z-potential values greater than -30 mV. Optimized emulsions were then prepared under non-standard conditions, namely with tap water, because tap water is required as a solvent in practical applications. Finally, the effectiveness of the five plant essential oil emulsions in reducing PM2.5 dust through spraying was evaluated in a dust chamber. Application of 0.025% kaffir lime essential oil emulsion via spraying was found to reduce PM2.5 at a faster rate and achieved the minimum concentration of 24.7 mg/m3 at 6 hr after spray. These findings suggest that plant essential oil emulsions, particularly kaffir lime essential oil emulsion, are effective as sprays for significantly decreasing PM concentration within a short period.

Keywords

Air quality, Air pollution, Dust reduction, Spraying

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