Removal of Endosulfan from Water Using Wood Charcoal — Adsorption and Desorption

Endosulfan, one of the most widely used pesticides in various sectors including agriculture, has been reported posing a threat to the ecology as well as to the environment. Contamination of groundwater and surface water sources with various pesticides is well documented, and this problem is prominent, particularly in rural areas. In the present study, efforts are made to remove endosulfan from water using wood charcoal, a local and low cost adsorbent. It gave removal efficiency of more than 90%. Equilibrium time was found to be around 5 h . Wood charcoal showed an uptake capacity of 0.53 mg∕g with initial endosulfan concentration in the range of 0.25–5 mg∕L and 1.77 mg∕g for the range of 2–50 mg∕L . Langmuir isotherm gave a better prediction of adsorption capacity than the Freundlich. The Langmuir isotherm fit also gave a better correlation with the experimental data. In the desorption study carried out, 10% solutions of acetone, methanol, acetic acid, saturated EDTA solution, and distilled water were use...