ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Investigation of Combined Pollution
between Malathion and a Variety of Pollutants
Based on the Fractional Factorial Design
(Resolution IV)
Bingchuan Cheng1,2, Shanshan Li1,2,3, Meng Wang1,2, Yu Li1,2
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1MOE Key Laboratory of Regional Energy Systems Optimization,
North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
2Resources and Environmental Research Academy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, United States
Submission date: 2015-04-07
Final revision date: 2015-05-21
Acceptance date: 2015-05-25
Publication date: 2015-09-21
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2015;24(5):1939-1947
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ABSTRACT
In order to reveal the combined pollution characteristics of malathion adsorption onto the surficial sediments
with pesticides (dimethoate, metalaxyl, atrazine, malathion, prometryn) and heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb,
Cd, Ni) present, a 210-5 fractional factorial design of resolution IV was employed to identify non-interactive
effects and two-way interactions of the chosen factors on malathion adsorption. The missing values of
malathion adsorption in the experiment were approximated using the algorithm of back propagation neural
network. It was found that Zn (13.69%), atrazine (8.76%), and metalaxyl (5.99%) have significant positive
effect (α=0.05) on the malathion adsorption; 44.92% of the total contribution to malathion adsorption came
from the non-interactive effects, while 55.08% was from the two-way interactions (Cu×metalaxyl,
Zn×atrazine, Cu×prometryn, Pb×Cu, Cu×atrazine, and Cu×Ni). Notably in the two-way interactions,
Zn×atrazine (12.93%) and Cu×prometryn (5.97%) have a strong synergistic effect on malathion adsorption,
while Pb×Cu (15.80%), Cu×atrazine (7.82%), Cu×metalaxyl (6.63%), and Cu×Ni (5.93%) present intense
antagonisms to malathion adsorption. The whole philosophy could be used as a new methodology in accessing
the degree of combined pollution and the effect of multiple pollutants on the selected pollutants.