Pesticides play an important role in the success of modern farming and food production but their use increases the residue levels in soils and waters and has been a public concern because of the potential risk to human health and the environment. Pesticides are generally applied in larger amounts than those needed for the pest control and they are swept away by transport processes such as leaching. Liquid phase adsorption is one of the mechanisms which decrease solute mobility and thus could be suitable for assessing the capacity of materials to adsorb pollutants.
Several treatment processes are available to remove inorganic and organic pollutants (including herbicides) from aqueous or gaseous phase, with adsorption on activated carbons being often considered to be highly efficient, easy to use and one of the most economical [1]. In particular, the concentration of compounds belonging to the phenoxyacid group has increased and a worrying fact is that these compounds are more often detected in both superficial and underground waters. MCPA was selected because it is considered highly carcinogenic, its biological degradation is very slow and it has been detected in natural and drinking waters with contamination levels up to 0.4 µg/L [2]. In Portugal, for example, permitted levels have been decreased to only 0.1 µg/L for any one pesticide or a total of 0.5 µg/L for all [3]
