Effect of iron and humic acid on photodegradation of some pesticides adsorbed on clay surfaces

Photochemistry studies can be helpful in assessing the environmental fate of chemicals. For this reason, the photodegradation kinetic studies of the two pesticides orthophenylphenol (OPP) and monuron, largely used in agriculture, were carried out in solid phase. The fungicide OPP and the herbicide monuron were irradiated on the clay fractions (montmorillonite and modified clays) using a suntest simulator. The phototransformation of the parent compound was followed by HPLC technique. The photodegradation process appears to follow the first order reaction. Kinetic parameters were determined and the experimental results show that the photodegradation of these substrates was enhanced in presence of K-montmorillonite, in comparison with Fe(III) exchanged montmorillonite and montmorillonite complexed with humic acid complexes. This study has shown that the iron and humic acid adsorbed on clay surfaces did not increase the degradation rate.