Oxygen Transfer Capacity as a Measure of Water Aeration by Floating Reed Plants: Initial Laboratory Studies

Reed-Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud, an aquatic plant, commonly used in constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment, supplies oxygen into the subsurface environment. Reed may be used as a ‘green machine’ in the form of a floating vegetation cover with many applications: wastewater lagoons, manure lagoons or sewage sludge lagoons. An important measure of the performance of the plant system is the oxygen transfer capacity (OTC). Accurate prediction of the OTC in relation to reed biomass would be crucial in modelling its influence on organic matter degradation and ammonia–nitrogen oxygenation in such lagoons. Laboratory experiments aiming to determine OTC and its dependence on reed biomass were carried out. Eight plants with a total dry mass ranging from approximately 3 to 7 g were tested. Mean OTC was determined per plant: 0.18 ± 0.21 (g O2·m−3·h−1·plant−1), with respect to leaves-and-stem dry mass (dlsm): 44.91 ± 35.21 (g O2·m−3·h−1·g dlsm−1), and to total dry mass (dtm): 33.25 ± 27.97 (g O2·m−3·h−1·g dtm−1). In relation to the relatively small root dry mass (drm), the OTC value was 136.02 ± 147.19 (g O2·m−3·h−1·g drm−1). Measured OTC values varied widely between the individual plants (variation coefficient 115%), in accordance with their differing size. Oxygenation performance was greatest in the reed plants with larger above ground dry mass (>4 g dlsm), but no influence of the root dry mass on the OTC rate was found.