Atrazine adsorption and desorption on functionalized montmorillonite: aluminum-pillared and lithium saturated

Atrazine is an herbicide used worldwide, and it is considered a severe environmental contaminant. The present study aims to evaluate the atrazine adsorption in aqueous media in montmorillonite samples which were either in natural state or functionalized through saturation with lithium and pillarization with aluminum by different methods. Montmorillonite saturated with lithium adsorbed significantly more atrazine than the natural montmorillonite sample. Among the samples obtained through the three aluminum-pillarization methods, the mass percentage of adsorbed atrazine was very similar. However, the best combination was the aluminum-pillarization (due to the maintenance of the open interlayer region) and saturation with lithium (due to the significant reduction of the cation exchange capacity of the mineral), because both processes facilitate the interaction of atrazine with the montmorillonite. Another advantage was that the adsorption of atrazine in the pillared and lithium saturated samples had small desorption, which is desirable in the environmental perspective. It is recommended to build filters with aluminum-hydroxy pillared, lithium saturated montmorillonite as an alternative method to rapidly remove atrazine from aqueous media. In addition to the shorter production time, this process resulted in montmorillonite with high occupancy rate and stability of the aluminum-hydroxy pillars.