Removal of Agrochemicals from Waters by Adsorption: A Critical Comparison among Humic-Like Substances, Zeolites, Porous Oxides, and Magnetic Nanocomposites

Antonello Marocco,Paola Tiberto,Gianfranco Dell’Agli,Serena Esposito,Gabriele Barrera,Michele Pansini,Paolo Allia,Filomena Sannino,Barbara Bonelli

doi:10.3390/pr8020141

Abstract

The use of humic-like substances, zeolites, various porous oxides (i.e., Al, Fe, or Si oxides), and magnetic nanocomposites in the adsorption of agrochemicals from water was critically reviewed. Firstly, the adsorbents were characterized from the structural, textural, and physico-chemical points of view. Secondly, the fundamental aspects of the adsorption of various agrochemicals on the solids (dependence on pH, kinetics, and isotherm of adsorption) were studied and interpreted on the basis of the adsorbent features. Thirdly, iterative processes of agrochemical removal from water by adsorption on the reported solids were described. In particular, in some cases the residual concentration of agrochemicals in water was lower than the maximum concentration of agrochemicals that the Italian regulations allow to be released in wastewater, surface waters, or sink water.

Highlights

The use of agrochemicals, unpleasant, appears absolutely necessary to tackle the various kinds of adverse events that can largely damage the quality of the various crops, and allows for a significant increase in production
This review represents a sort of “ride” through the different views that the scientific community has towards the serious environmental problem created by presence of agrochemicals in natural waters and water bodies
About ten years ago, acknowledged scientific journals published works concerning the removal of agrochemicals using humic-like substances waste of food industry

Summary

Introduction

The use of agrochemicals, unpleasant, appears absolutely necessary to tackle the various kinds of adverse events that can largely damage the quality of the various crops, and allows for a significant increase in production. In association with this benefit, the risk of environmental pollution must be considered. The use of agrochemicals may give rise to many serious pathologies for human beings [1]. In order to protect the environment and human health it is important to develop proper methodologies to prevent water and/or soil contamination by agrochemicals and to remediate contaminated soils and water. The increasing concern towards agrochemicals is confirmed by many scientific works [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19], which propose many different methods for their removal

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Results

Conclusion