Treatment of Organophosphorous Pesticides by Chemical Oxidation and Zero Valent Iron in Denmark
Groundwater beneath the Høfde 42 Harboøre Tange site is contaminated with some of the highest concentrations of organophosphorus pesticide wastes found anywhere in the world. From 1957 to 1962, pesticides and pesticide manufacturing wastes from a neighboring agrichemical plant were discharged to sand dunes at this site, which is located on the shore of the North Sea on the western coast of Denmark. Today, an estimated 267 tons of pesticides and pesticide manufacturing wastes remain at the site, primarily consisting of the highly toxic chemicals parathion, methyl parathion, and malathion. Largely immiscible in water, much of the pesticide contamination at the site is present as a dense, nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL). The site groundwater is highly acidic (pH of 3 to 4), and the groundwater toxicity is further increased by the presence of an estimated 60 Kg of mercury that is co-mingled with the pesticide wastes.










