Removal of pesticides from water using zeolites

Abstract

Zeolites are aluminosilicate minerals that have extremely high adsorption capacity and high cation-exchange ability. Due to this, natural zeolites have been widely used as adsorbents in water purification processes in the past decades. The aim of this study was to investigate the adsorption capacity of zeolite and possibility for removing pesticides from water using zeolite. Response surface methodology Box-Behnken design with seventeen runs, three independent variables (pH, particle size and amount of zeolite) and five replicates at a center point was used to achieve the optimum adsorption conditions - pH 10, zeolite particle size of 1-2 mm and zeolite content of 15 g. Purification with zeolite is environmental friendly, relatively cheap and is a readily available technique. So these investigations can be applied in the area of water purification wherever pesticides appear as pollutants of ground and surface waters.