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Coconut Shell Activated Carbon as Solid-Phase Extraction Adsorbent for Preconcentration of Selected Pesticides from Water Samples

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Abstract

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) on activated carbon derived from coconut shell (CSAC) for the preconcentration of four varying polarity pesticides (imidacloprid, acetamiprid, simazine, and linuron) prior to their determination using high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was investigated. The characteristics of the CSAC were analyzed through X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The effects of the solution pH, eluent type, eluent volume, and flow rate were investigated for optimization of the presented procedure. The adsorption was achieved quantitatively on the CSAC column in the pH range of 2.0–7.0, and then the retained pesticides were eluted with dichloromethane. The detection limit was found to be 0.025–0.039 μg L−1, depending on the pesticide. The proposed SPE-CSAC method was used to determine selected pesticides in tap water samples. The recoveries ranged from 58.2 to 105.3%, with low relative standard deviations. The obtained results indicated that the CSAC could be efficiently used as a low cost alternative to commercially available SPE adsorbents for the determination of the varying polarity pesticides in environmental water samples at trace levels.

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Funding

We acknowledge the support to this work provided by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia through the projects No. III 45006, III45012 and III 43009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Physics, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, P.O. Box 522, Belgrade, 11001, Serbia

    Ksenija Kumrić

  2. Laboratory of Materials Sciences, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, P.O. Box 522, Belgrade, 11001, Serbia

    Radojka Vujasin, Marija Egerić, Aleksandar Devečerski & Ljiljana Matović

  3. Laboratory of Radioisotopes, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, P.O. Box 522, Belgrade, 11001, Serbia

    Đorđe Petrović

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  1. Ksenija Kumrić
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Correspondence to Ksenija Kumrić.

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Kumrić, K., Vujasin, R., Egerić, M. et al. Coconut Shell Activated Carbon as Solid-Phase Extraction Adsorbent for Preconcentration of Selected Pesticides from Water Samples. Water Air Soil Pollut 230, 302 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-019-4359-7

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