2. Methods
2.1. Cattail harvest and processing
The fresh cattails, Typha latifolia, were collected from the constructed
wetland at a NC A&T’s farm in summer 2013, chopped
with pruning shears, cut into small pieces, and stored at 20 C.
A laboratory blender was used to homogenize the cattail with
addition of water. Cattail to added de-ionized water ratio was
1:5. The cattail slurry was filtered using the whatman grade 595
filter paper, separating the liquid from the solid biomass. In this
study, subsamples of the liquid and filtered biomass were called
the cattail juice and the cattail cake, respectively. Both fractions
were used freshly or kept in a freezer at 20 C for downstream
processing.