Photolytic treatment of atrazine-contaminated water: Products, kinetics, and reactor design

This study investigates the products, kinetics, and reactor design of atrazine photolysis under 254-nm ultraviolet-C (UVC) irradiation. With an initial atrazine concentration of 60 mu g/L (60 ppbm), only two products remain in detectable levels. Up to 77% of decomposed atrazine becomes hydroxyatrazine, the major product. Both atrazine and hydroxyatrazine photodecompose following the first-order rate equation, but the hydroxyatrazine photodecomposition rate is significantly slower than that of atrazine. For atrazine photodecomposition, the rate constant is proportional to the square of UVC output, but inversely proportional to the reactor volume. For a photochemical reactor design, a series of equations are proposed to calculate the needed UVC output power, water treatment capacity, and atrazine outlet concentration.