Natural attenuation of pesticide water contamination by using ecological adsorbents: Application for chlorinated pesticides included in European Water Framework Directive

In this work, a series of experiments were performed to demonstrate the potential use of natural organic substances (NOS) as an ecological technique to prevent pesticide contamination of ground water resources. A preliminary test has been carried out for determining the potentialities of ten NOS in the elimination of alachlor, aldrin, atrazine, chlorpyrifos, chlorfenvinphos, dieldrin, alpha-endosulfan, endrin, hexachlorobenzene, beta-HCH, gamma-HCH (lindane), simazine and trifluralin. The best adsorbents that present higher removal efficiency were date and olives stones, and in minor measurement Raphanus raphanistrum and Cistus ladaniferus. Experimental results showed that the pH and temperature of pesticide solutions negatively affect the adsorption process. According to adsorption kinetic data, 8 h were considered as the equilibrium time for realizing adsorption isotherms. Adsorption data were fit with Freundlich isotherm model which describes better the adsorption process. The Kf values depended mainly on the nature of each adsorbent and ranged from 4.53 for Eucalyptus gomphocephala to 13.54 for date stones.