Issue 5, 2020

Investigation of metaldehyde removal by powdered activated carbon from different water samples

Abstract

Metaldehyde as a widely used pesticide has been detected in surface water and drinking water in the UK with concentrations higher than the EU and UK standard (0.1 μg L−1). Previous studies have shown that powdered activated carbon (PAC) can adsorb metaldehyde even with the presence of natural organic matter, suggesting a promising solution to the problem. This paper studies the adsorption of metaldehyde onto PAC using different water samples including synthetic water, natural surface water, and water samples taken at different treatment processes from a water treatment plant. Metaldehyde (5 μg L−1) was effectively removed by PAC (50 mg L−1) from all water samples in this study, regardless of the water quality (74.3% to 99.7%). A PAC dosage of 100 mg L−1 was considered appropriate to remove metaldehyde at 5 μg L−1 after the first treatment process of pre-ozone treatment with a maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of 0.25 μg mg−1 given by the data fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model. Removal of metaldehyde by PAC was found to be most effective when PAC was applied after the static flocculation treatment process (98.4%) with a qm of 0.29 μg mg−1. The low adsorption capacity of PAC for low initial concentrations of metaldehyde solution was observed due to the lower driving force for mass transfer in the process of adsorption and competition with water molecules for adsorption sites on PAC.

Graphical abstract: Investigation of metaldehyde removal by powdered activated carbon from different water samples

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Oct 2019
Accepted
18 Mar 2020
First published
19 Mar 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2020,6, 1432-1444

Investigation of metaldehyde removal by powdered activated carbon from different water samples

Z. Li, J. Li, Z. Guo and L. C. Campos, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2020, 6, 1432 DOI: 10.1039/C9EW00962K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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