Pyrethroid sorption to Sacramento River suspended solids and bed sediments

Abstract Sorption of pyrethroid insecticides to solid materials will typically dominate the fate and transport of these hydrophobic compounds in aquatic environments. Batch reactor isotherm experiments were performed with bifenthrin and λ‐cyhalothrin with suspended material and bed sediment collected from the Sacramento River, California, USA. These batch reactor experiments were performed with low spiking concentrations and a long equilibration time (28 d) to be more relevant to environmental conditions. Sorption to suspended material and bed sediment was compared to examine the role of differential sorption between these phases in the environmental transport of pyrethroids. The equilibrium sorption data were fit to the Freundlich isotherm model and fit with r 2  > 0.87 for all experiments. Freundlich exponents ranged from 0.72 ± 0.19 to 1.07 ± 0.050, indicating sorption nonlinearity for some of the experimental conditions and linearity for others over the concentration range tested. The Freundlich capacity factors were larger for the suspended solids than for the bed sediments, and the suspended material had a higher specific surface area and higher organic carbon content compared to the bed sediment. Calculated organic carbon‐normalized distribution coefficients were larger than those previously reported in the literature, by approximately an order of magnitude, and ranged from 10 6.16 to 10 6.68 at an equilibrium aqueous concentration of 0.1 µg/L. Higher than expected sorption of pyrethroids to the tested materials may be explained by sorption to black carbon and/or mineral surfaces. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011; 30:787–792. © 2010 SETAC