Wat. Res. Vol. 35, No. 1, pp.

33±40, 2001
7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
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REMOVAL OF DDD AND DDE FROM WASTEWATER

USING BAGASSE FLY ASH, A SUGAR INDUSTRY WASTE
VINOD K. GUPTA1* and IMRAN ALI2
1
Department of Chemistry, University of Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, India and 2National Institute of
Hydrology, Roorkee, 247667, India

(First received 1 January 2000; accepted in revised form 31 March 2000)

AbstractÐBagasse ¯y ash, a waste from the sugar industry, was converted into an e€ective adsorbent
and was used for the removal of DDD [2,2-Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethane] and DDE [2,2-
Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethene] pesticides from wastewater. The DDD and DDE are removed
by the developed adsorbent up to 93% at pH 7.0, with the adsorbent dose of 5 g/l of particle size 200±
250 mm at 308C. The removal of these two pesticides was achieved up to 97±98% in column
experiments at a ¯ow rate of 0.5 ml/min. The adsorption was found to be exothermic in nature. The
bagasse ¯y ash system has been used for the removal of DDD and DDE from the wastewater. The
developed system is very useful, economic, and reproducible. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved

Key wordsÐadsorption, bagasse ¯y ash, DDD, DDE

INTRODUCTION al., 1995; Drevenkar et al., 1985; Hatrik and Tekel,

Among various organic and inorganic water pollu-
tants, pesticides are very dangerous and harmful
because of their toxic and carcinogenic nature (In-
ternational Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
Monographs, 1987). The possible sources of water
contamination due to pesticides are agricultural,
domestic and industrial activities. The pesticides are
bioaccumulative and relatively stable, as well as
toxic or carcinogenic, and, therefore, require close
monitoring. They are transported into ground water
or leached to the surface water. The EEC Directives
(EEC, 1988) for pesticide concentration in water for
human consumption is 0.1 mg/l. The WHO has
classi®ed (Copplestone, 1988) the pesticides into ®ve
groups on the basis of their hazardous nature
(LD50 values). The EPA has generated the lists of
pesticide properties which indicate their ground
water contamination potential (Copplestone, 1988).
DDD [2,2-Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethane],
and DDE [2,2-Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichlor-
oethene] (Hutson and Roberts, 1990; Mathur, 1998;
Vettorazzi, 1979) are very toxic and carcinogenic in
nature and they are used frequently in Indian agri-
cultural, forestry and domestic activities. Various
reports have been published on pesticide analysis in
di€erent matrices in the last few years (Clement et
*Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
Tel.: +91-1332-85801; fax: +91-1332-73560; e-mail:
vinodfcy@rurkiu.ernet.in
33
1996; Jain and Ali, 1997; MacCarthy et al., 1995).
The removal of DDD and DDE from waters is
therefore necessary and very important. In view of
this, attempts were made to ®nd the best and most
e€ective method for the removal of DDD and
DDE from waters.
Di€erent methods have been used for the
removal of pollutants from wastewater. Among
these, activated carbon adsorption is supposed to
be best because of its eciency, capacity and appli-
cation on a large scale (Cheremisino€ and Eller-
bush, 1979; Mattson and Mark, 1971). A number
of workers have also used adsorbent materials for
the removal of di€erent pollutants (Cowan et al.,
1991; Gro€man et al., 1992; Gupta, 1998; Kesaoul-
Qukel et al., 1993; Koeppenkastrop and De Careo,
1993; Lee and Low, 1989; Low and Lee, 1991; Park
et al., 1999; Periasamy and Namasivayam, 1994;
Pollard et al., 1992; Rodda et al., 1993; Tan et al.,
1985; Tyagi and Srivastava, 1995; Tyagi et al.,
1997). In the present study, e€orts were made to
develop a low cost adsorbent from bagasse ¯y ash,
a waste of the sugar industry, and this was used as
an adsorbent for the removal of DDD and DDE.
Gas chromatography was used as the detection
technique for DDD and DDE due to its wide appli-
cability for the analysis of pesticides (Brinkmann,
1995; Clement et al., 1995; Hatrik and Tekel, 1996;
Jain and Ali, 1997; MacCarthy et al., 1995). The
DDD and DDE were removed from water using
34 Vinod K. Gupta and Imran Ali
the developed low cost adsorbent, i.e. bagasse ¯y
ash, and the results are presented in this paper.
EXPERIMENTAL
Materials and methods
All the chemicals and reagents used were of A. R. grade
and were obtained from E. Merck, India. The DDD and
DDE were also procured from E. Merck, Germany and
Sigma Chemical Co., USA. The stock solutions of DDD
and DDE were prepared in deionised water.
Equipment
A pH meter (model no. SN 95010006684, Hach Co.,
USA) was used to measure the pH of solutions. The X-
ray measurements were carried out by a Phillips X-ray dif-
fractometer employing nickel ®ltered Cu±KA radiations.
The surface area of the adsorbent was measured by a sur-
face area analyser (Model QS-7; Quantasorb Surface Area
Analyser). IR spectra of the sample were recorded on an
infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR Perkin Elmer 1600).
The constituents of the prepared adsorbent were analysed
following the standard methods of chemical analysis
(Vogel, 1989). The absorbance measurements were
recorded on a Du-6, UV±VIS spectrophotometer. The
Remi centrifuge machine (model no. R 24, India) was
used for centrifugation purposes. The concentration of
DDD and DDE was determined by gas chromatography
(model Hewlett Packard, 5890A).
Adsorbent development
The bagasse ¯y ash, a waste material of the sugar indus-
try, was collected from a local sugar factory at Iqbalpur
(UP), India. The material was treated with hydrogen per-
oxide (100 volumes) at 608C for 24 h to remove the adher-
ing matter. The resulting material was then washed with
deionized water, dried at 1008C, powdered, ground, and
sieved to the desired particle size before use. The material
was sorted in a vacuum desiccator for further use.
Adsorption studies
The adsorption experiments were carried out by batch
technique using a series of Erlenmeyer ¯asks of 50-ml ca-
pacity covered with te¯on sheets to prevent the introduc-
tion of any foreign particle contamination. The e€ect of
pH, concentration, dose, temperature and shaking time
was studied. The isotherms were run by taking di€erent
concentrations of DDD and DDE at a desired tempera-
ture and pH. These concentrations were decided after a
good deal of preliminary investigations. After the required
experimentation was over, the solutions were centrifuged
and the concentrations of DDD and DDE were deter-
mined in supernatant using gas chromatography.
Kinetic studies
For kinetic studies, the batch technique was used due to
its simplicity. A series of Erlenmeyer ¯asks of 50-ml ca-
pacity and containing a de®nite volume of solutions of
DDD and DDE of known concentrations were kept in a
thermostatic shaking water bath. After attaining the
desired temperature, a known amount of the adsorbent
was added to each ¯ask and the ¯asks were allowed to
agitate mechanically. At given time intervals, the solutions
were centrifuged and the supernatants were analysed for
DDD and DDE by gas chromatography. The equilibrium
was achieved within 80 min.
Column studies
The column of these studies was made of pyrex glass
(50  2 cm). The column was attached with a manometer
by the two pressure points to monitor the introduction of
air, if any, in the column. A 250-BSS (British Standard
Size) mesh wire gauge was ®tted at the pressure points
which prevented the entry of adsorbent particles into these
points. The upper end of the column was covered with a
cover containing a tube connection to remove any air
bubbles. The upper end was also attached with a head
tank from which the ¯ow of wastewater was regulated.
The ¯ow of the wastewater was also controlled by the
stopper point at the lower end of the column. For packing
the column, the supporting media, i.e. glass wool, was
packed by hydraulic ®lling. The weighed adsorbent ma-
terial was kept for 12 h in deionized water and then it was
used to pack the column. The column was kept undis-
turbed overnight for its full settlement and saturation. To
optimise the column ¯ow rate for the maximum removal
of these two pesticides, the ¯ow rate was varied and the
removal of pesticides was monitored. The column runs
were carried out up to a point of 90% of the break-
through. The regeneration of the column was also
achieved and it is described in the results and discussion
section.
Chromatographic studies
The DDD and DDE were extracted from aqueous sol-
utions (obtained from batch and column adsorption exper-
iments) using n-hexane three times. The three extracts
were combined together, concentrated on a water bath
and anhydrous sodium sulphate was added. The resulting
solutions were kept overnight to remove any water con-
tent. Anhydrous sodium sulphate was removed from n-
hexane solutions by centrifugation and the resulted n-hex-
ane solutions were used for identi®cation and determi-
nation of the two pesticides by gas chromatography. All
the gas chromatographic experiments were carried out at
200 2 28C, 225 2 28C and 250 2 28C temperatures for col-
umn, injector and detector, respectively, The mobile phase
was nitrogen and used at 60 ml/min ¯ow rate. The glass
column of 1.5% OV-17 and 1.95% QF-1 (120 cm  3 mm)
was used. The detector used was ECD for all the studies.
The chromatograms for pure DDD and DDE were also
recorded under the same experimental conditions for the
qualitative and quantitative comparisons.
The chromatograms of DDD and DDE (retention times
3.40 and 2.21 min for DDD and DDE, respectively) were
used for the identi®cation and determination of the pesti-
cides in adsorption studies. The extracted concentration
(with n-hexane) of DDD and DDE were found to be
98.5% respectively, and a correction factor of the loss of
DDD and DDE in the extraction procedure was used to
calculate the concentration of these two pesticides in batch
and column adsorption experiments.
Adsorption batch experiments
The adsorption capacity of the developed bagasse ¯y
ash for DDD and DDE was determined using batch ex-
periments. The optimisation of the adsorption of these
adsorbates was achieved by varying the di€erent par-
ameters such as pH, initial concentration, dose of adsor-
bent, equilibrium time, size of the adsorbent particle and
the working temperature.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The characterisation of developed adsorbent
The developed bagasse ¯y ash was found to be
stable in water, acids and bases and is of the ``L''
type, i.e. a lowering in pH observed when kept in
deionized water. The di€erent constituents deter-
mined were: SiO2, 60.5%; Al2O3, 15.4%; CaO,
 Removal of DDD and DDE from wastewater using bagasse ¯y ash 35

2.9%; Fe2O3, 4.90%; MgO, 0.81%. The loss on ig-

nition was found to be 18.01% by weight. The den-
sity and porosity were found to be 0.16 g/cm3 and
0.36, respectively. The presence of mullite, haema-
tite, kaolinite, A-quartz, gamma alumina and geo-
lite is indicated by the X-ray di€raction pattern of
the bagasse ¯y ash ``d'' spacing values. The surface
area of the adsorbent (200±250 mm) was determined
by a surface area analyzer and found to be 450 m2/
g.
The equilibration time (t )
The adsorption experiments were carried out for
di€erent contact times with a ®xed adsorbent dose
(5 g/l), pH (7.0) and temperature (308C). The results
are plotted in Fig. 1. It is clear from the Figure that
the equilibrium for both DDD and DDE was
achieved at 80 min of contact time (4.01 mg/g for Fig. 2. The e€ect of initial concentration on amount
DDD and 3.87 mg/g for DDE). adsorbed of DDD and DDE.

The e€ect of concentration

The adsorption experiments were carried out
using di€erent concentrations of DDD and DDE in
the range of 2.0±30.0 ppb at ®xed pH (7.0), tem-
perature (308C) and contact time (80 min). The
results are given in Fig. 2 which reveals that
adsorption increases from 2 ppb to 22 ppb and then
becomes constant indicating the maximum adsorp-
tion capacity of the adsorbent at 22 ppb for both
DDD and DDE adsorbates.
The e€ect of pH
The adsorption of DDD and DDE was studied
over the pH range of 2.0±9.0 (Fig. 3). It is apparent
that adsorption rises from 0.21 mg/g at pH 2.0 to
3.60 mg/g at pH 7.0 for DDD and from 0.11 mg/g
to 3.42 mg/g at pH 7.0, and then starts to decrease
in both the cases. Thus the optimum removal took
place at pH 7.0 for both the pesticides.
The e€ect of dose
To achieve the maximum adsorption capacity of
adsorbent for DDD and DDE, the dose of the
adsorbent was varied from 1 g/l to 10 g/l and it was
found that the dose of 5 g/l was sucient for the
maximum uptake of DDD and DDE. These ®nd-
ings are plotted in Fig. 4. The adsorption increases
from 0.61 mg/g at the 1 g/l dose to 4.01 mg/g at the
5 g/l dose for DDD and from 0.47 mg/g at the 1 g/l
dose to 3.87 mg/g at the 5 g/l dose for DDE then
become almost constant for both adsorbates which
indicates that 5 g/l is the optimum adsorbent dose.
The e€ect of particle size
The batch adsorption experiments were carried
out using three di€erent particle sizes at pH 7.0
with a dose of 5 g/l and shaking time of 80 min at
308C. The selected particle sizes were 100±150 mm,

Fig. 1. The e€ect of contact time on amount adsorbed for Fig. 3. The e€ect of pH on amount adsorbed of DDD
DDD and DDE. and DDE.
36 Vinod K. Gupta and Imran Ali
Fig. 4. The e€ect of adsorbent dose on amount adsorbed
of DDD and DDE.
200±250 mm and 300±350 mm. The percent adsorp-
tion of DDD and DDE was found to be 99.9, 93.0
and 88.0% using the above mentioned sizes, re-
spectively. The adsorbent of particle size 200±
250 mm was selected for further adsorption studies
due to its sucient adsorption capacity and easiness
of its preparation. Moreover, the centrifugation of
this particle size adsorbent did not require any
special attention during the experiment. It was
observed that the adsorbent of the particle size
300±350 mm had a poor capacity of adsorption and
that the preparation of the adsorbent of the particle
size 100±150 mm was very dicult and was more
labour intensive in centrifugation, etc.
The e€ect of temperature
The adsorption of DDD and DDE was studied
at three di€erent temperatures, i.e. at 30, 40 and
Fig. 5. The adsorption isotherm of DDD at di€erent tem-
peratures.
508C. The results of these experiments are plotted
in Fig. 5 for DDD and Fig. 6 for DDE. It is clear
from these Figures that the adsorption was the
same (at 30, 40 and 508C) for lower concentrations
of DDD and DDE. However, the adsorption
decreases with increase in temperature at higher
concentrations for both the adsorbates. It was also
observed that the maximum adsorption occurred at
308C for both DDD and DDE and the order of the
adsorption for both the adsorbates was found to be
308C > 408C > 508C. Since the adsorption
decreases as the temperature becomes higher, one
could therefore conclude that the process is exother-
mic in nature.
The e€ect of interfering ions
The natural waters contain various ions such as
sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride,
sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, etc. and, therefore, the
e€ect of these ions was studied on the adsorption of
DDD and DDE on bagasse ¯y ash at various
levels. The observed decrease in the removal of
DDD and DDE on bagasse ¯y ash was 3.0 and
3.3%, 5.5 and 6.8%, 4.5 and 5.2%, 3.3 and 3.6%,
1.3 and 1.4%, 1.1 and 1.3%, 1.0 and 1.2%, and 1.1
and 1.0% in the presence of 10±100 ppm sodium,
5±50 ppm potassium, 10±100 ppm calcium, 5±50
ppm magnesium, 25±300 ppm chloride, 25±200
ppm sulphate, 5±50 ppm nitrate, and 2±10 ppm of
phosphate ions, respectively. Thus the observed
decrease in the adsorption of DDD and DDE is in
the range of 1.0±6.8%. These ®ndings suggest a
non selective nature of the adsorbent during the
uptake of these two pesticides in the presence of
various ions.
The adsorption isotherm
The results obtained on the adsorption of DDD
Fig. 6. The adsorption isotherm of DDE at di€erent tem-
peratures.
 Removal of DDD and DDE from wastewater using bagasse ¯y ash 37

Fig. 8. The Freundlich isotherm for DDD and DDE at

Fig. 7. The Langmuir isotherm for DDD and DDE at
308C temperatures.
308C temperatures.

where: qe is the amount adsorbed (mg/g); Ce is the

and DDE were analysed by the well known models
given by Langmuir and Freundlich.
Langmuir isotherm. Langmuir isotherms have
been used by many workers for studying the sorp-
tion of a variety of compounds. The model assumes
uniform energies of adsorption onto the surface and
no transmigration of adsorbate in the plane of the
surface. The linear form of the Langmuir isotherm
is given by equation (1):
1=qe ˆ 1=Q0 ‡ 1=bQ0 Ce …1†
where: qe is the amount adsorbed (mg/g); Ce is the
equilibrium concentration of the adsorbate (mg/l);
and Q0 and b are the Langmuir constants related to
maximum adsorption capacity and energy of
adsorption, respectively. When 1/qe is plotted
against 1/Ce, a straight line with slope 1/bQ0 is
(Fig. 7) obtained which shows that the adsorption
of DDD and DDE follow the Langmuir isotherm.
The Langmuir constants b and Q0 are calculated
and the values of these at three di€erent tempera-
tures, i.e. 30, 40 and 508C are given in Table 1.
Freundlich isotherm. The adsorption data of
DDD and DDE is also analysed by the Freundlich
model. The logarithmic form of the Freundlich
model is given by the following equation:
log qe ˆ log KF ‡ 1=n log Ce …2†
equilibrium concentration of the adsorbate (mg/l);
and KF and n are the Freundlich constants related
to adsorption capacity and adsorption intensity, re-
spectively (Weber, 1972). When log qe is plotted
against log Ce, a straight line with slope 1/n (Fig. 8)
is obtained which shows that the adsorption of
DDD and DDE also follow the Freundlich iso-
therm. The Freundlich constants KF and n are cal-
culated and the values of these at three di€erent
temperatures, i.e. 30, 40 and 508C are also given in
Table 1.
The thermodynamic calculations
The thermodynamic parameters obtained for the
adsorption systems were calculated by using the fol-
lowing equations and the values are given in
Table 2.
DG ^ ˆ ÿRT lnb …3†
DH ^ ˆ ÿR‰T2 T1 =T2 ÿ T1 Šlnb2 =b1 …4†
DS ^ ˆ …DG ÿ DH †=T …5†
where: b, b1 and b2 are the Langmuir constants at
temperature T, T1 and T2, respectively. Free energy

Table 1. Langmuir and Freundlich constants for DDD and DDE

Adsorbates Langmuir Constants Freundlich Constants

ÿ9
Q0 (mg/g) b (l/mol)  10 n KF

308C 408C 508C 308C 408C 508C 308C 408C 508C 308C 408C 508C

DDD 7.69 7.61 7.54 2.59 2.51 2.46 10.64 10.58 10.50 3.59 3.52 3.47
DDE 6.67 6.60 6.53 2.39 2.32 2.26 10.00 9.91 9.80 3.24 3.19 3.12
38 Vinod K. Gupta and Imran Ali
increases with the increase in temperature thus indi-
cating a decrease in adsorption at higher tempera-
ture, i.e. the exothermic nature of the adsorption.
The kinetic studies
To understand the practical application of
adsorption and designing the sorption reactor, kin-
etic data has been treated by the models given by
Boyd et al. (1947) which are valid under the exper-
imental conditions used. This is in accordance with
the observations of Reichenberg (1953) as given by
the following equations:
X
1
F ˆ 1 ÿ 6=p 2 1=n 2 exp‰ÿn 2 BtŠ
nˆ1
B ˆ p 2 Di =r 2
where: F is the fractional attainment of equilibrium
at time t; Di is the e€ective di€usion coecient of
adsorbates in the adsorbent phase, and r is the
radius of the adsorbent particle assumed to be
spherical.
The fractional attainment of the equilibrium can
be determined by the equation:
F ˆ Qt =Q1
where Qt and Q1 are the amounts adsorbed after
time t and after in®nite time, respectively. For every
calculated value of F, corresponding values of Bt
are calculated from equation (7) and the values of
Di are calculated using equation (8). The linearity
test of Bt vs t plots (not given) is employed to ®nd
out the particle di€usion control mechanism. At the
lower concentration, the Bt vs t plots did not pass
through the origin signifying the adsorption to be
®lm di€usion, but at higher concentrations the
same were linear up to a certain point and passed
through the origin indicating the adsorption to be a
particle di€usion in nature (Hel€erich, 1962).
The values of Ea (energy of activation) are calcu-
lated from the following equation:
log K2 =K1 ˆ …Ea =2:303R†…T2 ÿ T1 =T2 T1 †
The value of Ea was also calculated from the slope
…slope ˆ ÿEa =2:303R† of the graph plotted between
log K vs 1/T (plot is not given) and it was found
that the values were in good agreement with those
obtained from equation (10).
The values of D0, pre-exponential constant (ana-
Table 2. Thermodynamic parameters for DDD and DDE
Adsorbates DG8 (kJ/mol) ÿDH8 (kJ/mol) ÿDS8 (J/K/mol)
308C 408C 508C
DDD 49.85 51.58 53.28 2.09
DDE 50.06 51.78 53.51 2.26
logous to Arrhenius frequency factor), and DS #,
the energy of activation are calculated from the fol-
lowing equations:
Di ˆ D0 exp‰ÿEa =RT Š …10†
D0 ˆ 2:72d 2 kT=h exp‰DS # =RŠ …11†
where: d is the average distance between the succes-
sive exchange sites and is taken as 5 A8; R, h, and k
are the gas, Planck and Boltzman constants, re-
spectively. The values of Di, D0, Ea and DS # are
given in Table 3.
…6† It may be urged that the e€ective di€usion coe-
cient Di in these systems is comprised mainly of two
components, due to the simultaneous di€usion of
the ingoing adsorbates through the pores of di€er-
…7† ent widths and di€erent electronic ®elds along the
di€usion path. The di€usion within the pores of
wider paths and weaker retarding forces of electro-
static interaction (particularly at the surface of the
sorbent) accounts for the faster component of Di,
and the di€usion within the pores of narrower mesh
widths and stronger retarding forces accounts for
the slower component of Di. As the temperature
increases, the contribution of the faster component
…8† of Di decreases. It is due to the decreasing mobility
of ingoing species at higher temperature which to
some extent overcomes the e‚uence of retarding
forces.
The column studies
The application of the results obtained from
adsorption batch experiments were used to remove
DDD and DDE (22 ppb) by column experiments.
The optimisation of the ¯ow rate with respect to
maximum uptake of DDD and DDE was achieved
by varying the ¯ow rate of the column and it was
observed that the maximum removal of DDD and
…9†
0.16
0.16 Fig. 9. The e€ect of ¯ow rate on the percent adsorption of
DDD and DDE.
 Removal of DDD and DDE from wastewater using bagasse ¯y ash
Table 3. Other parameters for the uptake of DDD and DDE
B (sÿ1) Di (cm2 sÿ1)
308C 408C 508C 30
DDD 1.86  10ÿ4 1.82  10ÿ4 1.80  10ÿ4 7.55  10ÿ9 7.38  10ÿ9 7.30  10ÿ9 1.77  10ÿ9
DDE 1.75  10ÿ4 1.72  10ÿ4 1.70  10ÿ4 7.10  10ÿ9 6.98  10ÿ9 6.90  10ÿ9 1.68  10ÿ9
DDE was achieved at the maximum ¯ow rate of
0.5 ml/min (Fig. 9). It is clear from Fig. 9 that 99.0
and 98.0% DDD and DDE are removed at the
lower ¯ow rate (0.10±0.80 ml/min) while it
decreases with the increase of ¯ow rate. The
removal of 99.0 and 98.0% DDD and DDE, re-
spectively, is achieved at a ¯ow rate of 0.5 ml/min.
The breakthrough curves were used to calculate the
column capacity at complete exhaustion and the
column capacity was found to be 4.25 mg/g for
DDD and 2.20 mg/g for DDE which is greater than
the batch experiments. The high column capacity
may be due to the fact that a continuously large
concentration gradient at the interface zones
occurred as it passes through the column, while the
concentration gradient decreases with time in batch
experiments.
Regeneration and recovery of the column is a
very important aspect in wastewater treatment pro-
cesses and, therefore, desorption of DDD and DDE
was tried with a number of eluents. It was found
that the desorption of these two pesticides occurred
by 5% NaOH. The 5% NaOH at a ¯ow rate of
3.5 ml/min was allowed to pass for about 3 h and
then washed with deionized water at a ¯ow rate of
5.0 ml/min for the next 3 h. It was observed that
the column loses about 3.0% of its capacity after
the ®rst run and about 4±6% after more than ®ve
runs. The treatment of the column with 1 M HNO3
solution at a ¯ow rate of 1.0 ml/min restores the
lost capacity to almost the original value. There-
fore, the column can be used for at least 10 runs
without signi®cant loss of capacity.
APPLICATION OF THE DEVELOPED ADSORPTION
SYSTEM
The developed bagasse ¯y ash system is very use-
ful, economic, and reproducible for the removal of
DDD and DDE. This system has been used in the
laboratory to remove DDD and DDE from waste-
water and the surface waters of some of the Indian
rivers. It was observed that the system is capable of
removing these pesticides by up to 98%. Therefore,
this system can be used for the successful and e-
cient removal of DDD and DDE from wastewater
and any other e‚uent.
COST ESTIMATION
The cost of the cheapest variety of carbon avail-
39
D0 (cm2 sÿ1) ÿEa (kJ Molÿ1) ÿDS (JKÿ1 Molÿ1)
408C 508C
66.67 61.44
60.00 61.63
able in India is US $285.0 per ton. The waste
bagasse ¯y ash costs only US$ 2.0 per ton and con-
sidering the cost of transport, chemicals, electrical
energy used in the process and labour, the ®nished
product would cost approximately US$ 20.00 per
ton. Therefore, the developed bagasse ¯y ash adsor-
bent may be considered as a good replacement for
commercially available carbon due to its low cost
and good eciency.
CONCLUSION
The adsorbent developed from bagasse ¯y ash
was found to be e€ective for the removal of DDD
and DDE from wastewater. The removal is exother-
mic in nature, takes place by particle di€usion
mechanism and follows both Langmuir and Freun-
dlich models. DDD and DDE are sorbed up to
93% at pH 7.0 with an adsorbent dose of 5 g/l of
particle size 200±250 mm at 308C and a shaking
time of 80 min. The removal of these two pesticides
was achieved for up to 98 and 97%, respectively, by
column experiments at a ¯ow rate of 0.5 ml/min. In
view of all these ®ndings, it may be concluded that
the developed adsorbent is very useful, economic,
and reproducible for the removal of DDD and
DDE. Therefore, this system can be used for the
successful removal of DDD and DDE from waste-
water and any other e‚uent.
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