Abstract

ADSORPTION STUDIES OF METHYL PARATHION ON PAPAYA SEED ACTIVATED CARBON: AN ECOFRIENDLY APPROACH

Ginni Kumawat*, Nidhi Gaur, Romila Karnawat, I.K.Sharma and P. S. Verma

Abstract

The indiscriminate use of pesticides in agriculture as a plant protection agent for boosting production, apart from being an occupational hazard in the developing world, has been posing a serious threat to human and animal life as well. The on- growing and uncontrolled use of pesticides to fight pests and improve agricultural production constitutes a risk for water quality. The leaching run-off from agricultural and forest lands; deposition from aerial application and discharge of industrial waste water are responsible for water contamination. Then, it is necessary to adopt a good prevention strategy because the water has a low selfpurification capacity. Adsorption has advantages over other methods because simple design with sludge free environment and can involve low investment in term of both initial cost and land required. Activated carbon (powdered or granular) is the most widely used adsorbents because it has excellent adsorption effectiveness for the organic compound. Methyl parathion is a broad spectrum organophosphorous insecticide generally used to control variety of insects. It is a highly toxic pesticide, and humans are susceptible to its acute toxic effects by various routes of exposure. Present study is an effort to explore the potential of Carica papaya (papaya) seeds for the removal of methyl parathion from aqueous solution. Different parameters of adsorption viz. contact time of adsorbate (methyl parathion) with adsorbent (activated carbon), concentration of methyl parathion, concentration of papaya seed activated carbon, pH and temperature were investigated in the present study. Adsorption experiments were carried out by the batch process at a temperature of ~300C and the methyl parathion concentrations remaining in the solution were determined using UV – VIS Spectrophotometer (Systronics Model: 118). This study examined the feasibility of activated carbon prepared from papaya seeds for the adsorption of methyl parathion insecticide from aqueous solutions over a wide range of concentrations. Equilibrium data were fitted to the Freundlich isotherm. The present study revealed the potential of Carica papaya seeds to be a low cost adsorbent for removing methyl parathion from aqueous solution and thus exhibits a possible application for preventing contamination of water resources, as well as in treatment of industrial and agricultural waste water.

Keywords: organophosphorous, Carica papaya, Freundlich isotherm.