Oxidation at boron doped diamond electrodes: an effective method to mineralise triazines

The electrochemical oxidation of cyanuric acid (CA) is examined by bulk electrolyses at boron doped diamond (BDD) electrode. The influence of operating conditions on the reaction trend is investigated and suitable conditions for oxidative demolition of CA are individuated. In particular a strong effect of current density and pH is evidenced, being neutral pH and high current the most favourable conditions to achieve CA mineralisation. The paper also presents the results from atrazine (2-Cl-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) and 2Cl-4,6-diammino-1,3,5-triazine oxidation at BDD anode. Triazine compounds are scarcely degraded even with powerful methods such as photocatalytic TiO2-mediated processes, being CA generally obtained as final product of their oxidation. Individuation of favourable conditions for CA demolition has allowed to find suitable conditions to mineralise also triazine compounds. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.