Remediation of DDT-Contaminated Water and Soil by Using Pretreated Iron Byproducts from the Automotive Industry

The objective of this study was to quantify the effectiveness of different pretreated iron byproducts from the automotive industry to degrade DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethane] in aqueous solutions and soil slurry. Iron byproducts from automotive manufacturing were pretreated by three different methods (heating, solvent and 0.5N HCl acid washing) prior to experimentation. All pretreated irons were used at 5% (wt v^{? 1}) to treat 0.014 mM (5 mgL^{? 1}) of DDT in aqueous solution. Among the pretreated irons, acid pretreated iron results in the fastest destruction rates, with a pseudo first-order degradation rate of 0.364 d^{? 1}. By lowering the pH of the DDT aqueous solution from 9 to 3, destruction kinetic rates increase more than 20%. In addition, when DDT-contaminated soil slurry (3.54 mg kg^{? 1}) was incubated with 5% (wt v^{? 1}) acid-pretreated iron, more than 90% destruction of DDT was observed within 8 weeks. Moreover, DDT destruction kinetics were enhanced when Fe(II), Fe(III) or Al(III) sulfate salts were added to the soil slurry, with the following order of destruction kinetics: Al(III) sulfate > Fe(III) sulfate > Fe(II) sulfate. These results provide proof-of concept that inexpensive iron byproducts of the automotive industry can be used to remediate DDT-contaminated water and soil.