Partial degradation of carbofuran by natural pyrite

Abstract

This work provides new insight into the degradation of 2,2-dimethyl-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-7-yl-methylcarbamate (hereafter carbofuran) by natural pyrite as a function of pH and adsorbent loading. In the presence of tert-butyl alcohol i.e., OH scavenger, the degradation efficiency of carbofuran was almost stopped. In acidic solutions (pH<5) the degradation kinetics was pseudo first order in carbofuran as −d[carbofuran]dt=−kobserved×[carbofuran]. The dependence of kobserved on [FeS2] was given as kobserved=k0+[FeS2]×k1 where k0=1.16×10−7h−1 and k1=0.137h−1. The elucidation of precise steps of carbofuran degradation by pyrite has yet to be solved.