Trends in biomass and metal sequestration associated with reeds and algae at Wheal Jane Biorem pilot passive treatment plant

The metal uptake was higher in the roots than the stems, although no variation between cells of systems was detectable, and the difference was not as marked as reported by other workers. The metal concentrations in the debris samples were markedly higher than the roots of the reeds. The values for Fe, Al and As were several orders of magnitude larger than the influent minewater. Further study is required here, but this appears to be a key component in the function of the reeds. The lime-dosed system rock filter showed the highest Fe removal rate but the lowest Mn removal rate. Some possible mechanisms are discussed in the paper, but further investigation would be required to test these hypotheses.