Remediation of Malathion Contaminated Soil Using Zero Valent Iron Nano-Particles

Abstract

In this study, iron nano-particles were used to remediate malathion contaminated soil in the concentration range of 1 - 10 μg?g–1. The zero valent iron nano-particles were prepared by reducing ferric chloride solution with sodium boro- hydride for remediation of the soil. The optimized quantity of iron nano particles was found to be 0.1 g?kg–1 of soil con- taminated with 10 μg?g–1 of malathion. Malathion was determined in the soil after leaching to water at pH 8.2 and fol- lowed by its oxidation with slight excess of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS). The unconsumed NBS was estimated by measuring the decrease in the color intensity of rhodamine B. Degradation product formed during the oxidation of ma-lathion by zero valent iron was monitored by the Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectros- copy (ATR-FTIR). The results clearly showed that quantitative oxidation of malathion was achieved within eight min- utes after the addition of zero valent iron nano particles.