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A new viable remediation technique based on the use of diatomaceous earth is proposed to improve the ecological system. Its ability to remove atrazine and the four organophosphorus pesticides parathion-methyl, chlorpyriphos, fenamiphos and methidathion from river and waste waters has been proven. A series of experiments including variable conditions, such as temperature, pH, contact time, pesticide concentration and adsorbent quantity, were performed to demonstrate the efficiency of pesticide removal from three different water samples. The batch experiments showed that diatomaceous earth was able to remove 95% of chlorpyriphos, 75% of methidathion and parathion-methyl and 55% of atrazine and fenamiphos from all types of waters tested. The individual adsorption of each pesticide on diatomaceous earth could be described by the Freundlich isotherm and a tentative adsorption mechanism was proposed. The Freundlich coefficient (Kf) and Freundlich constant (1/n) appeared to be closely related to the physicochemical properties (Kow, solubility) of the compounds. The actual results support the conclusion that diatomaceous earth has the potential to serve as an extractant in remediation techniques.

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