Mechanism and efficiency of atrazine degradation under combined oxidation processes

The mechanism of atrazine degradation in aqueous phase was investigated under sonolysis at 20 kHz, ozonation, photolysis at 254 nm and photocatalysis in the presence of TiO2, employed either separately or in combination. Ozonation and photocatalysis induced atrazine de-alkylation, followed by slower de-chlorination, while direct photolysis at 254 nm produced very efficient de-chlorination. Simultaneous sonolysis had beneficial effects on ozonation and photocatalysis, especially by increasing the rate of photocatalytic de-alkylation, and no effect on the unimolecular photolytic de-chlorination of atrazine. Although complete atrazine mineralization could not be attained, because of the stability of the s-triazine ring toward oxidation, atrazine degradation and overall detoxification, as related to the disappearance of chlorinated by-products, proceeded at the highest rate when photolysis at 254 nm was combined with ozonation.