The Effect of chemical and physical properties of Korean tales on the decomposition of Malathion in dust formulations

The decomposition of malathion in dust for mulations prepared from four Korean tales as carriers during storage period has been studied. Amberlite CG-120, a cation exchange resin . which has higher cation exchange capacity than tales, was also used as a carrier in hope of finding out the effect of nagative charge upon the decomposition of malathion. Besides the original talc powders obtained directly from the mines, the hydrogen ion saturated forms were also used as carriers for comparisonal study. The saturated ions for the resin were hydrogen, sodium and magnesium. As the physical properties of the tales, colloid content, water adsorption capacity, PH, specific surface, phosphate fixing capacity and exchangeable canons were determined, and these properties were correlated with the amount of the decomposition. Following results were obtained from the experiment. 1. The malathion in the talc in dust was found to decompose around 10-15% ofthe total withina month. About 50% of the decom position that took place after a month was found to occur within a week. 2. The resin which has higher cation exchange capacity than the tales was highly effective in the decomposition of malathion compared with the tales. 3. In every case the saturation of the exchange complexes with hydrogen ion greatly accelerated the decomposition of malathion. 4. The most highly correlated physical properties with the decomposition were colloid content and specific surface of the tales. 5. The water adsorption and phosphate fixing capacities of the tales were found not to correlate with the amount of malathion decomposed. From the experimental results it was concluded that the active negative spots on the colloidal tales or the resin attract the electropositive phosphorus atom in a malathion molecule thereby inducing the decomposition easier. The presence of hydrogen ion nearby might cause a catalytic effect in the decomposition of malathion.