Photo-assisted electrochemical degradation of the commercial herbicide atrazine

This paper presents a degradation study of the pesticide atrazine using photo-assisted electrochemical methods at a dimensionally stable anode (DSA^®) of nominal composition Ti/Ru_0.3Ti_0.7O₂ in a prototype reactor. The effects of current density, electrolyte flow-rate, as well as the use of different atrazine concentrations are reported. The results indicate that the energy consumption is substantially reduced for the combined photochemical and electrochemical processes when compared to the isolated systems. It is observed that complete atrazine removal is achieved at low current densities when using the combined method, thus reducing the energy required to operate the electrochemical system. The results also include the investigation of the phytotoxicity of the treated solutions.