Degradation of atrazine by microwave-assisted electrodeless discharge mercury lamp in aqueous solution

Abstract

The present study investigates the degradation of atrazine (2-chloro-4-(ethyl amino)-6-isopropyl amino- s-triazine) in aqueous solution by a developed new method, namely by means of a microwave-assisted electrodeless discharge mercury lamp (MW-EDML). An experimental design was conducted to assess the influence of various parameters: pH value, initial concentration, amount of EDML, initial volume and coexisted solvent. Atrazine was degraded completely by EDML in a relatively short time (i.e. t 1/2 = 1.2 min for 10 mg/l). Additionally, the identification of main degradation products during atrazine degradation process was conducted by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). This study proposes the degradation mechanism including four possible pathways for atrazine degradation according to the degradation products.