Abstract
In the environment, a pollutant is rarely present alone, and other contaminants can influence its fate. To investigate the influence of the presence of other pollutants on the sorption of pesticides and trace metals (TM), the adsorption of Aclonifen, alachlor, Cd and Cu onto suspended particulate matter (SPM) was studied. SPM was isolated during the flood event of May 2010 in the Save agricultural watershed of SW France. Adsorption equilibrium was reached after 2 h of contact with SPM for pesticides and 24 h for TM. To simulate natural conditions, the SPM load allowing a maximum adsorption of pollutants was set at 1 g L−1 and the concentration of pollutants at 10 μg L−1. These factors being established, the co-presence experiments showed that most contaminants were influenced by the presence of other pollutant(s) in the water, trace metals to a lesser extent than pesticides. The mutual influence can be either competition for the same adsorption sites or formation of new complexes between pollutants. These phenomena can modify the adsorption capacities of each pollutant. The order of introduction into the aqueous solution also influenced the amount of adsorption of pollutants onto SPM. These results open new perspectives on the fate of pollutants.
Highlights
Pesticides and trace metals (TM) are two important types of environmental pollutants which may be strongly sorbed onto particles after entering natural aquatic systems
Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) presents a value of 7.61 mg L−1, higher than the values usually found in lower discharges
The approach presented in this study provided new insights into the fate of pollutants in the environment while approaching as close as possible the natural conditions
Summary
Pesticides and trace metals (TM) are two important types of environmental pollutants which may be strongly sorbed onto particles after entering natural aquatic systems. Their sorption behavior governs their transport, bioavailability, ecotoxicity and their fate in the environment. The sorption mechanisms of organic and inorganic pollutants have been widely studied. Previous studies reported that the sorption of organic pollutants in the presence of trace metals and vice versa could decrease due to the formation of new pesticide-metal complexes. Trace metals can act as a link between pesticides and other components of the soil (such as organic matter), facilitating their adsorption [1,2,3,4]
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