Entrapping pesticides by coagulating smectites

Highly delaminated montmorillonite (from Wyoming) with a high specific surface area when dispersed in water was used as an adsorbent of the hydrophobic herbicide metolachlor. The montmorillonite was coagulated with Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Al³⁺ and benzyl trimethylammonium ions. Ca²⁺ and Al³⁺ screened the surface charges and the adsorption of metolachlor was strongly enhanced by the interaction of metolachlor with the hydrophobic siloxane oxygen atoms and the water molecules of the hydration shell of the interlayer cations. With increasing salt concentration the mechanism changed from a cooperative adsorption process on a heterogeneous surface (S-type isotherm) to adsorption on a homogeneous surface (L-type). Coagulation with Ca²⁺ and Al³⁺ increased the amounts of metolachlor adsorbed from 14–41% (Na⁺) to 57–86% (Ca²⁺) and 67–91% (Al³⁺). The light microscopic images revealed that increasing amounts of metolachlor changed the band-type network into spherical “potato-like” aggregates. The enhanced herbicide adsorption hydrophobized the particles that crowded together to form spherical aggregates. Entrapping the herbicide molecules in clay mineral aggregates—either band-type networks or spherical aggregates—offers a useful tool in creating leaching-resistant herbicide formulations.