Diffusion and sorption of allyl isothiocyanate in the process of fumigation of maize

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the transport of allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) by means of the sorption mechanism and the diffusion of AITC through maize grains. The experimental procedure to study the sorption mechanism was conducted by injection of AITC in glass flasks containing the grains. Kinetic models of zero, first and second order were fitted to AITC concentration data, with the purpose of determining the sorption rate (k). For the study of diffusion, a prototype was utilized in which the components are a gas chamber and a cylindrical column in which the grains were stored. At the interval of 110 min, samples in the chamber and in the column were collected, which were immediately injected into the gas chromatograph. In order to determine the effective diffusion coefficient (Def) of AITC through maize grains, the term referring to the sorption rate was added to the diffusion equation. The kinetic model of the first order was the one that best fitted the experimental data for the sorption mechanism, and k was 6.26 × 10-4 s-1. The Def of AITC through grains was 7.2 × 10-3 cm2 s-1. It was concluded that the transport of AITC through maize grains is slow, due to the low value of Def and high sorption rate of this component by the grains.