Detoxification of pesticides aqueous solution using horseradish peroxidase

There are pesticide residues in agriculture wastewater and that compounds must be removed before discharge of wastewater in native waters. Thus the aim of this study was to remove toxic pesticide in waste water by the addition of horseradish peroxidase enzyme. The process of pesticide (methyl-parathion (O,O-Diethyl- O-4-nitro-phenylthiophosphate), atrazine (1-chloro-3-ethylamino-5-isopropylamino-2,4,6-triazine) and triazophos (O,O-diethyl O-1-phenyl-1H-1,2,4- triazol-3-yl phosphorothioate) removal from synthetic wastewater using horseradish peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide has been analyzed. The technical feasibility of the process was studied using 0.001-3.0 mM synthetic pesticides solutions. Experiments were carried out at different time, HRP and H2O2 dose and pH to determine the optimum removing conditions. The removal of the three pesticides increases with an increase in HRP and hydrogen peroxide dose. The optimum HRP dose is 2.0 U L(-1) and 10 mM for H2O2. The contact needed to reach equilibrium was found to be 360 min. Maximum removal was achieved up to 74% at pH 8. Also, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the effluent reduced at the end of 6 h from 2111-221 mg L(-1) (at pH 8). Tests based upon horseradish peroxidase, at optimized parameters, show the reduction of toxicity to non-toxic levels.