Screening the Capacity of 34 Wetland Plant Species to Remove Heavy Metals from Water

Maria Schück and Maria Greger
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Maria Schück: Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Maria Greger: Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs), consisting of vegetated rafts, may reduce heavy metal levels in polluted water, but the choice of plant species for efficient metal removal needs to be further investigated. We screened the capacity of 34 wetland plant species to remove metals dissolved in water to identify suitable species for FTWs. The plants were grown hydroponically for 5 days in a solution containing 1.2 µg Cd L −1 , 68.5 µg Cu L −1 , 78.4 µg Pb L −1 , and 559 µg Zn L −1 . Results show large variation in metal removal rate and capacity between the investigated species. The species with highest removal capacity could remove up to 52–94% of the metals already after 0.5 h of exposure and up to 98–100% of the metals after 5 days of exposure. Plant size contributed more to high removal capacity than did removal per unit of fine roots. Carex pseudocyperus and C. riparia were the most efficient and versatile species. The findings of this study should be considered as a starting point for further investigation of plant selection for improved water purification by FTWs.

Keywords: heavy metal removal; hydroponic; phytoremediation; wetland plants; water purification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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