Relevance study of bare and coated zero valent iron nanoparticles for lindane degradation from its by-product monitorization

•Iron particles modified with different polymers have been synthesized.•Zero-valent iron nanoparticles have been applied for the degradation of lindane.•The employed analytical tools make it possible to evaluate degradation reaction effectiveness.•Developed analytical methods make possible the detection of originated volatile by-products.•Different nanoparticle–polymer could be used according to desired degradation kinetics.

Zero-valent iron nanoparticles (NZVI) as well as polymer–stabilized nanoparticles were synthesized and used for lindane (γ-hexachlorocyclohexane) degradation in aqueous solution. To study the effectiveness of the different coated nanoparticles, simple and rapid analytical methods have been developed to measure and to detect lindane and its by-products. For the monitorization of lindane degradation solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used, while volatile by-products formation measurement was carried out by headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS–SPME) followed by GC/MS. The SPE–GC/MS method provides low detection limits (0.2 μg L−1), high recovery (above 95%) and it is a valuable tool for kinetic studies of the degradation process for each polymer used, while HS–SPME–GC/MS has proved to be an effective tool for the extraction and evaluation of volatile degradation by-products.