Modeling Experimental Design for Photo-Fenton Degradation of Methomyl

Modeling experimental design was used to study the main effects and the interaction effects between operational parameters in the photocatalytic degradation of pesticide methomyl. The important parameters which affect the removal efficiency of methomyl such as concentration of Fe(NO3)3, concentration of H2O2, initial concentration of the pesticide and pH. The parameters were coded as x1, x2, x3 and x4, consecutively, and were investigated at two levels (–1 and +1). The effects of individual variables and their interaction effects for dependent variables, namely, photocatalytic degradation efficiency (%) were determined. From the statistical analysis, the most effective parameters in the photocatalytic degradation efficiency were initial concentrations of the methomyl and Fe(NO3)3. The interaction between initial concentration of the pesticide and Fe(NO3)3 was the most influencing interaction. The optimum conditions that were obtained for the photocatalytic degradation of methomyl were: minimum quantity of contaminant: 6 × 10–5 mol.L–1, maximum quantity of Fe(NO3)3: 5 × 10–4 mol.L-1, initial pH of the solution: 3 and maximum quantity H2O2: 10–2 mol.L–1.