Electrochemical degradation of pesticide azoxystrobin by anodic oxidation on boron-doped diamond

Abstract

The problem of agricultural pesticide utilization in the Arab countries is not only an issue of uncontrolled use, but it is also a problem pertaining to the handling, misuse and disposal of unwanted pesticides. Electrochemical measurements were performed using a computer controlled by Potentiostat/Galvanostat model PGZ 100 associated to ‘‘Volta-Master 4’’ software. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) is measured according to the standard methods for examination of water and wastewater. The COD values were determined by the open reflux, with dichromate titration method. All measurements were repeated in triplicate and all results were observed to be repeatable within a 5 % margin of experimental error. Kinetic studies were carried out to determine the COD reduction efficiency for electrooxidation pesticides at different supporting electrolytes. For this purpose, the removal rate of COD was assumed to obey a first-order kinetic as follows. The influence of the current density on the COD removal during the electrochemical oxidation of pesticide Azoxystrobin was 40 mg L -1 at the BDD anode.