Adsorption of Glyphosate by Palygorskite

Glyphosate affects ecosystems due to exposure of non-target crops and is a persistent contaminant at low concentrations. The application of palygorskite to reduce glyphosate contamination in Brazil is an environmentally friendly way to remediate impacted areas. This research evaluated palygorskite application for glyphosate adsorption present in a synthetic effluent. Palygorskite samples were ore dressed by wet granulometric classification and wet magnetic separation and submitted to organophilization with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide solutions at concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 1.5% (w/w), and the organo-palygorskite was applied in glyphosate adsorption tests. After ore dressing there was an increase in its cation exchange capacity from 19 to 41 meq 100 g-1 and the surface area was 149 g m-2. The 1.0% organo-palygorskite adsorbed about 86% of glyphosate from synthetic aqueous effluent. Based on this high adsorption yield, the organo-palygorskite is a potential adsorbent for remediation of effluents containing the toxic herbicide glyphosate.