Influence of thermal treatment applied to Fe(III) polyhydroxy cation intercalated vermiculite on the adsorption of atrazine

Guidelines to Study the Adsorption of Pesticides onto Clay Minerals Aiming at a Straightforward Evaluation of Their Removal Performance

Natural and modified clay minerals have been extensively used for the adsorption/desorption of organic substances, especially pesticides, from waters and wastewater, aiming at pollution control and more efficient use of the herbicides through controlled release. While natural clay minerals efficiently remove organic cations such as paraquat and diquat, the adsorption of anionic or neutral species demands surface chemical modification with, for instance, quaternary ammonium salts containing long alkyl chains. Basic pesticides, on the other hand, are better absorbed in clay minerals modified with polycations. Kinetic studies and adsorption/desorption isotherms provide the parameters needed to evaluate the clay mineral’s adsorptive performance towards the pollutant target. However, the direct comparison of these parameters is complicated because the experimental conditions, the analytical techniques, the kinetic and isotherm models, and the numerical fitting method differ among the various studies. The free-energy-related Langmuir constant depends on the degree of site occupation; that is, it depends on the concentration window used to construct the adsorption isotherm and, consequently, on the analytical technique used to quantify the free concentrations. This paper reviews pesticides’ adsorption on natural and modified clay minerals and proposes guidelines for designing batch adsorption/desorption studies to obtain easily comparable and meaningful adsorption parameters. Articles should clearly describe the experimental conditions such as temperature, contact time, total concentration window, the solution to adsorbent ratio, the analytical technique, and its detection and quantification limits, besides the fitting models. Research should also evaluate the competitive effects of humic substances, colloidal inorganic particles, and ionic strength to emulate real-world adsorption experiments.

Genotoxic and histopathological biomarkers for assessing the effects of magnetic exfoliated vermiculite and exfoliated vermiculite in Danio rerio

Magnetic exfoliated vermiculite is a synthetic nanocomposite that quickly and efficiently absorbs organic compounds such as oil from water bodies. It was developed primarily to mitigate pollution, but the possible adverse impacts of its application have not yet been evaluated. In this context, the acute toxicity of magnetic exfoliated vermiculite and exfoliated vermiculite was herein assessed by genotoxic and histopathological biomarkers in zebrafish (Danio rerio). DNA fragmentation was statistically significant for all groups exposed to the magnetic exfoliated vermiculite and for fish exposed to the highest concentration (200mg/L) of exfoliated vermiculite, whereas the micronucleus frequency, nuclear abnormalities and histopathological alterations were not statistically significant for the fish exposed to these materials. In the intestinal lumen, epithelial cells and goblet cells, we found the presence of magnetic exfoliated vermiculite and exfoliated vermiculite, but no alterations or presence of the materials-test in the gills or liver were observed. Our findings suggest that the use of magnetic exfoliated vermiculite and exfoliated vermiculite during standard ecotoxicological assays caused DNA damage in D. rerio, whose alterations may be likely to be repaired, indicating that the magnetic nanoparticles have the ability to promote genotoxic damage, such as DNA fragmentation, but not mutagenic effects.

Catalytic effect of transition metals on microwave-induced degradation of atrazine in mineral micropores

With their high catalytic activity for redox reactions, transition metal ions (Cu(2+) and Fe(3+)) were exchanged into the micropores of dealuminated Y zeolites to prepare effective microporous mineral sorbents for sorption and microwave-induced degradation of atrazine. Due to its ability to complex with atrazine, loading of copper greatly increased the sorption of atrazine. Atrazine sorption on iron-exchanged zeolites was also significantly enhanced, which was attributed to the hydrolysis of Fe(3+) polycations in mineral micropores and electrostatic interactions of protonated atrazine molecules with the negatively charged pore wall surface. Copper and iron species in the micropores also significantly accelerated degradation of the sorbed atrazine (and its degradation intermediates) under microwave irradiation. The catalytic effect was attributed to the easy reducibility and high oxidation activity of Cu(2+) and Fe(3+) species stabilized in the micropores of the zeolites. It was postulated that the surface species of transition metals (monomeric Cu(2+), Cu(2+)-O-Cu(2+) complexes, FeO(+), and dinuclear Fe-O-Fe-like species) in the mineral micropores were thermally activated under microwave irradiation, and subsequently formed highly reactive sites catalyzing oxidative degradation of atrazine. The transition metal-exchanged zeolites, particularly the iron-exchanged ones, were relatively stable when leached under acidic conditions, which suggests that they are reusable in sorption and microwave-induced degradation. These findings offer valuable insights on designing of effective mineral sorbents that can selectively uptake atrazine from aqueous solutions and catalyze its degradation under microwave irradiation.