applied sciences Review Recent Strategies for Environmental Remediation of Organochlorine Pesticides Timothy O. Ajiboye 1,2 , Alex T. Kuvarega 3 and Damian C. Onwudiwe 1,2,* 1 Material Science Innovation and Modelling (MaSIM) Research Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa;
[email protected] 2 Department of Chemistry, School of Physical and chemical Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa 3 Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida 1709, South Africa;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +27-18-389-2545; Fax: +27-18-389-2420 Received: 29 June 2020; Accepted: 27 July 2020; Published: 10 September 2020 Abstract: The amount of organochlorine pesticides in soil and water continues to increase; their presence has surpassed maximum acceptable concentrations. Thus, the development of different removal strategies has stimulated a new research drive in environmental remediation. Different techniques such as adsorption, bioremediation, phytoremediation and ozonation have been explored. These techniques aim at either degrading or removal of the organochlorine pesticides from the environment but have different drawbacks. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a relatively new technique that has become popular due to its ability to completely degrade different toxic pollutants—instead of transferring them from one medium to another. The process is driven by a renewable energy source, and semiconductor nanomaterials are used to construct the light energy harvesting assemblies due to their rich surface states, large surface areas and different morphologies compared to their corresponding bulk materials.