Recent advances on the removal of priority organochlorine and organophosphorus biorecalcitrant pesticides defined by Directive 2013/39/EU from environmental matrices by using advanced oxidation processes: An overview (2007–2018)

Abstract

An extensive research dealing with the removal of organic pesticide residues (ng L−1 to μg L−1) contained in several environmental matrices (water, wastewater, soil, food compartments such as fruits and vegetables, etc.) using advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has been conducted in the last decade. The present review is aiming to summarize the scientific data published during the period 2007–2018 concerning the development, optimization, and application of diff ;erent types of AOPs used for the degradation of 15 priority synthetic pesticides that are included in the European policy in the water field defined by Directive 2013/39/EU. More specifically, the 12 target organochlorine substances of the survey were dicofol, endosulfan (including both of the two isomers of α- and β- endosulfan), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) (including the four isomers of α-, β-, γ-and δ-HCH), heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide, aldrin, isodrin, dieldrin, endrin dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) (including DDT total and p,p'- DDT), and pentachlorophenol (PCP), whereas the 3 orgnanophosphorus pesticides of the study were chlorfenvinphos, chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos. After a brief introduction and an outline of the harmful effects of each chemical family of selected anthropogenic pollutants, the recent advances on the treatment of the 15 selected individual pesticide substances are critically reviewed, focusing on the processes, pathways, metabolites and operating factors affecting the degradation efficiency.The search comprised 323 publications found in Scopus database, using as keywords the name of each water priority pesticide and AOPs treatments including: (i) chemical AOPs, such as Fenton's reagent; peroxonation; oxidation with persulfate, etc (ii) photo-chemical AOPs, such as photolysis of H2O2; O3; photo-Fenton; photo-electro-Fenton; heterogenous photocatalysis technologies; etc (iii) sono-chemical AOPs, such as ultrasounds and H2O2 and/or O3; etc (iv) electro-chemical AOPs, such as electrochemical oxidation; anodic oxidation; electro-Fenton; and finally (v) non-thermal technologies, such as γ-radiation; pulsed electric field (PEF); electrolyzed water (EW); high pressure processing (HPP); ultrasounds and non-thermal plasma (NTP). Review papers published in the same period were not considered in the present review. According to the main findings of the current study many different AOPs methods have been applied efficiently during the period 2007–2018 and thus can undoubtedly be recognized as effective tools and promising strategies for the removal of these substances to levels that are deemed acceptable. Based on the observed overall relative frequency of published data dealing with the decomposition of the 15 individual organic pesticide contaminants listed as priority compounds in the field water policy by Directive 2013/39/EU in various aquatic and not aquatic matices, the decreasing order of employed and studied methods is: (i) miscellaneous processes (≈ 30%), among which γ-irradiation, NTP, electrochemical oxidation, sulfate radical based AOPs, electron beam irradiation, microwave-hydrothermal treatments, sono-chemical oxidation, ultrasonic cavitation, and many other AOPs methods are included, (ii) photocatalysis-based treatments (≈ 27%), employing several heterogeneous and/or homogeneous processes, (iii) photolysis and oxidant assisted processes (≈ 13%) utilizing UV and/or H2O2, K2S2O8, KBrO3, KMnO4, (iv) Fenton-based methods (≈ 11%), and (vi) ozonation- based methods (≈ 8%). Moreover, it was demonstrated that the studies dealing with the comparison of different AOPs represents only a small part (11%) of the reports discussed within the current review. Furthermore, a recent research tendency regarding remediation of soil or sediment samples and agricultural products such as fruits, or vegetables contaminated with several organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides is observed. However, future research needs to perform more experiments under real conditions and not only simulated is also highlightened.