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Degradation of the typical herbicide atrazine by UV/persulfate: kinetics and mechanisms

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Abstract

Atrazine (ATZ), a widely used herbicide, had received a significant amount of attention due to its widespread detection in aquatic environments as well as its potential risks to human health. UV/persulfate (PS) process is an emerging technology for degrading organic pollutants in water. Thus, the degradation of ATZ by a UV/PS process was investigated in this study. The results showed that the removal rate of ATZ was 98.4% with a PS dosage of 2 mg/L and an initial ATZ concentration of 0.1 mg/L. In addition, a relatively high degradation efficiency was obtained under pH = 7. However, the addition of humic acid (HA) reduced the removal rate of ATZ. Hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and sulfate radicals (•SO4−) respectively contributed to 21.7% and 29% of the ATZ degradation. The ATZ degradation pathway was proposed, and the main reactions of ATZ in this UV/PS process included dechlorination, demethylation, and deethylation. Moreover, the toxicity of ATZ and its degradation products was assessed using the Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (TEST), and the results showed that the toxicity of the ATZ solution was reduced after the UV/PS process. These results indicate that UV/PS shows good promise as a remediation technique for the treatment of persistent herbicides such as ATZ in contaminated water.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article and its supplementary material.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Scientific Research Program of the Higher Education Institution of XinJiang (XJEDU2021Y014), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021ME119, ZR2017BEE016), Science and Technology Project of Yantai University (TM17B19), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51609207).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China

    Yucan Liu, Xianguo Ji, Yuliang Zhu, Ying Wang & Yan Zhang

  2. School of Environmental and Materials Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China

    Jingjie Yang & Yanxiang Zhang

  3. Yantai City Drainage Service Center, Yantai, 264000, China

    Wei Tang

  4. Centre for Water Management and Reuse, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Jinming Duan

  5. Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resources, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an , 710055, China

    Wei Li

Authors
  1. Yucan Liu
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  8. Yan Zhang
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Contributions

Yucan Liu, Yan Zhang, and Wei Li provided ideas for the experiment. The elementary experiments were operated by Yuliang Zhu and Ying Wang. Yucan Liu, Wei Tang, and Jinming Duan provided financial and material support for the experiment. Xianguo Ji and Jingjie Yang performed data analysis and graphing. Xianguo Ji compiled and revised the manuscript. Yanxiang Zhang and Yucan Liu reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Highlights

• A UV/PS process achieved an ATZ degradation rate of 98.4%.

• The •OH and •SO44− contributions to ATZ degradation were 21.7% and 29%.

• Six ATZ intermediates were identified in the UV/PS process. 

• The UV/PS process had a significant impact on ATZ toxicity control.

• A TOC removal rate of 41.7% was achieved in the ATZ solution by the UV/PS.

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Liu, Y., Ji, X., Yang, J. et al. Degradation of the typical herbicide atrazine by UV/persulfate: kinetics and mechanisms. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 43928–43941 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18717-x

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