Recent advances on the adsorption of herbicides and pesticides from polluted waters: Performance evaluation via physical attributes

Due to the need to ameliorate the incessant presence of herbicides and pesticides (H & P) in our waters, we appraised the recent advances in using adsorption technology. Of the numerous adsorbents, montmorillonite and activated carbon (AC) cloth showed the highest adsorption capacity (q) of 1067 and 421.6 mg/g for 2,4-D herbicide and aldicarb, respectively. However, atrazine and aldrin (the most researched H & P, respectively) were best removed using eucalyptus bark-derived biosorbent (936.1 mg/g) and acid-treated patellidae shells (208.3 mg/g), respectively. We carried out further investigation into two newly derived adsorption attributes (effective surface area (eS(BET)) and preferential adsorption (q(p)). The eS(BET) correlates more strongly with q than the conventional specific surface area (S-BET) because surface chemistry influences the former. Likewise, q(p) is a more reliable attribute than q because q(p) considers the adsorbent's chemical properties and adsorbate's solubility. The correlation between eS(BET) and q(p) was strongest for 2,4-D (95%) and AC (62.25%). Future research could use spent heavy metal adsorbents and photo-assisted adsorption to improve the removal of competitive adsorptives (H & P). Conclusively, adsorption is excellent for mitigating H & P pollution, and the novel adsorption attributes provided here would aid more liable performance optimization. (C) 2020 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.