Author(s)

Abraha Gebrekidan^1*, Mekonen Teferi², Tsehaye Asmelash³, Kindeya Gebrehiwet⁴, Amanual Hadera¹, Kassa Amare⁵, Jozef Deckers⁶, Bart Van Der Bruggen⁷

¹Department of Chemistry, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
²Department of Biology, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
³Department of Microbiology, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
⁴Department of Land Resource Management & Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
⁵Department of Earth Science, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
⁶Department for Earth and Environmental Science, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁷Department of Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems (ProcESS), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

The presence of pesticides in the environment is of great concern due to their persistent nature and chronic adverse effect on human health and the environment. Water bodies are subject to pollution by organochlorine pesticides, especially in developing countries, where water pollution is a key sustainability challenge. Hence, activated carbon is considered a universal adsorbent for the removal of organochlorine pollutants from water. Activated carbon from Acatia etbaica was prepared using traditional kilns with low investment costs. Pesticides such as aldrin, dieldrin and DDT were selected for adsorption because of their common usage in agricultural and malaria control activities and may occur in high concentrations in surface waters that are used as drinking water sources. The effect of the adsorbent dose and initial concentration were investigated. To describe the equilibrium isotherms the experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The Freundlich model gave the best correlation with the experimental data. Activated carbon prepared from Acacia etbaica was found to be an effective and low-cost alternative for the removal of organochlorine pesticides from aqueous solutions. The preparation method allows the use of this material by local communities for effective remediation of pollution by pesticides.

Acacia etbaica, Activated Carbon, Organochlorine Pesticides, Adsorption, Water Purification

Gebrekidan, A. , Teferi, M. , Asmelash, T. , Gebrehiwet, K. , Hadera, A. , Amare, K. , Deckers, J. and Bruggen, B. (2015) Acacia etbaica as a Potential Low-Cost Adsorbent for Removal of Organochlorine Pesticides from Water. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 7, 278-291. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2015.73022.