Improvement in the adsorption of thiabendazole by using aluminum pillared clays

Many chemical products like fungicides are used in agricultural activities with the purpose of improving the quality and quantity of food production but, contaminating the natural resources with serious consequences to human health and environment. In this work, the removal of thiabendazole (widely used fungicide in the Alto Valle de Rio Negro-Neuquen, Argentina) by the use of aluminum pillared clays as adsorbents, in comparison with their starting material (a natural clay mineral) was studied. The aim of this work is to improve both thiabendazole remotion by an adsorption process and the posterior extraction of the used adsorbent from the solution, using modified clays instead of the natural clay mineral. The pillared clays were synthesized from a natural clay mineral from the northern Patagonia in Argentina, by using two aluminum oligocations synthesized at different temperatures. The samples were characterized by several techniques, remarking that some structural and textural changes were produced during the pillaring process. The pillared samples showed a considerable increase in their adsorption capacity in comparison to the natural clay mineral. This effect can be related to the textural and structural changes produced during the pillaring process. Additionally, the increase in the hydrophobicity of the pillared samples would allow an easier separation from the aqueous systems. Consequently, aluminum pillared clays could be the new materials to be used in studied environmental process.