I do a lot of soldering in my room which smells. Not only that, I find my room smells stale anyway.
Ideally I want a fairly small plant that is easy to maintain and doesn't grow into a forest/ palm tree. It should be widely available too. I live in Manchester in the UK.
Plants do exchange air but in direct relation the amount of light and water available. This post goes into detail about what kind of plants and mentions a ratio of one plant per 100 square feet. To get an effective filter rate you need good light and adequate water.
From a health and safety point of view this article has a long list of things you could be breathing when you solder including ozone, carbon monoxides and various metal ions. You would be safer using a fume hood which exhausts to the outside and buying a plant to deal with the rest.
