Removal of Metamifop using foxtail palm fruits as potential activated carbon

The rising demand on rice as staple food by the increasing human population urges the farmers to extensively protect their crops from infestation by using agrochemicals. Excessive utilization of agrochemical herbicides has caused a major issue of water pollution. A newly developed post-emergence formulation herbicide that has been studied is known as Nominee-M which consists of an active ingredient known as metamifop. Metamifop is widely used in herbicides to protect crops from weed infestation. This study was conducted to investigate the potential and efficiency of foxtail palm fruits as a potential activated carbon for the removal of metamifop. The activated carbon was produced from foxtail palm fruits through the chemical activation process by using nitric acid (HNO3). The effect of adsorbent dose, contact time, and initial metamifop concentration toward the efficiency of the prepared activated carbon in removing metamifop was studied in this research. Adsorbent dose of 3 g recorded the highest percentage of metamifop removal which was 85.71% while adsorbent dose of 1 g recorded the lowest percentage of metamifop removal which was 77.99%. The effective adsorbent dose of 3 g was selected and used for the experiment on the effect of contact time. For the effect of contact, 60 minutes has recorded the highest percentage of metamifop removal which was 86.65% while 150 minutes has recorded the lowest percentage of metamifop removal which was 62.76%. The effective adsorbent dose and contact time of 3 g and 60 minutes respectively were selected and used for the experiment on the effect of initial metamifop concentration. For the effect of initial metamifop concentration, 10 ppm has recorded the highest percentage of metamifop removal which was 86.65% while 18 ppm has recorded the lowest percentage of metamifop removal which was 46.43%. 10 ppm was chosen as the optimum initial concentration of metamifop that is efficient for the removal of metamifop by activated carbon made from foxtail palm fruits. The highest percentage of removal obtained at optimized value of 3 g, 60 minutes and 10 ppm was 86.65%. The study has proven that through adsorption of metamifop by activated carbon made from foxtail palm fruits have the potential to reduce metamifop in water resources that has been contaminated.