Groundwater Remediation Using Biological and Photocatalytic Methods

The degradability of two commercially available pesticides was studied using heterogeneous photocatalytic and activated sludge treatment methods. The first pesticide contained 5% quizalofop-P-ethyl as an active ingredient and petroleum naphtha as a solvent, the latter causing difficulties both in photocatalytic and biological treatment methods. The active ingredient of the second compound was acetamiprid. The photocatalysis proved to be effective both under laboratory conditions (using UV light) and when exposed to sunlight, but the pesticides remained stable during the employed biological treatment. Preliminary information on its behaviour in soil was obtained from transport modelling.