Sugarcane trash ash: A low cost adsorbent for atrazine and fipronil removal from water

Abstract

The sugarcane trash ash (STA) has been explored as low cost adsorbent for atrazine and fipronil removal from water. Kinetics study suggested that the pseudo second order model best explain the adsorption of both pesticides. The STA show higher adsorption of fipronil (K_d - 1267.5-3321.1) than atrazine (K_d - 137.0-1445.3) while desorption followed reverse trend with 0-2.27 and 4.83-9.32% fipronil and atrazine desorption, respectively. Isotherm model optimization suggested that the Freundlich isotherm best predict the adsorption-desoprtion behaviour of pesticides. Adsorption is highly nonlinear as 1/n values were 0.23 and 0.407 for atrazine and fipronil respectively. Adsorption decreased with increase in initial concentration of pesticide in solution. The sugarcane trash, a waste, can be used as energy source in boilers and the ash obtained can be utilized as low-cost adsorbent for pesticide removal from contaminated water.