Performance of a novel microwave-based treatment technology for atrazine removal and destruction: Sorbent reusability and chemical stability, and effect of water matrices

Degradation of Residual Herbicide Atrazine in Agri-Food and Washing Water

Atrazine, an herbicide used to control grassy and broadleaf weed, has become an essential part of agricultural crop protection tools. It is widely sprayed on corn, sorghum and sugar cane, with the attendant problems of its residues in agri-food and washing water. If ingested into humans, this residual atrazine can cause reproductive harm, developmental toxicity and carcinogenicity. It is therefore important to find clean and economical degradation processes for atrazine. In recent years, many physical, chemical and biological methods have been proposed to remove atrazine from the aquatic environment. This review introduces the research works of atrazine degradation in aqueous solutions by method classification. These methods are then compared by their advantages, disadvantages, and different degradation pathways of atrazine. Moreover, the existing toxicological experimental data for atrazine and its metabolites are summarized. Finally, the review concludes with directions for future research and major challenges to be addressed.

Effects of Fe(III) and Cu(II) on the sorption of s-triazine herbicides on clay minerals

The effects of Fe(III) and Cu(II) on the sorption of atrazine (AT) and prometryn (PY) on clay minerals were investigated both preloaded and in solution. For smectite, Fe(III) preloading greatly enhanced AT and PY sorption at pH 4.0 and 6.0 but diminished AT sorption at pH 8.0. Cu(II) preloading promoted AT and PY sorption under alkaline conditions but suppressed AT sorption at pH 4.0. The adverse effects were not obvious for PY. While for illite and kaolinite, Fe(III) and Cu(II) had little or promotion effects due to the lower contents of them in these two minerals. In the co-sorption studies, for smectite, AT sorption remained at pH 4.0 and increased at pH 6.0 and 8.0, while PY sorption was inhabited over the pH range of 4.0-8.0 in the presence of Fe(III). AT and PY sorption were not affected by Cu(II) except for PY at pH 8.0, in which case, the sorption was promoted. For illite and kaolinite, Fe(III) and Cu(II) generally enhanced AT and PY sorption.

Bioassays to screen the toxicity in drinking water samples collected in Brazilian rural area

Agriculture activities have increased the concentration of pesticides and metals in the environment. The excessive use of pesticides can generate an environmental impact and contribute to the development of human diseases. This study aimed to determine the presence of pesticides and metals in water samples collected in the Brazilian rural area in two different periods (before and after pesticide application) and to evaluate the alternative bioassays Lactuca sativa, Allium cepa, and Caenorhabditis elegans to monitoring toxicity in human drinking water samples. Eight sites in the rural area were selected and water samples were collected in two different periods of the year (before and after pesticide application). The presence of the pesticides was determinated by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and metals by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The potential toxicity of the water samples was performed with three different alternatives in vivo models (L. sativa, A. cepa, and C. elegans). Fifty-seven pesticides were analyzed and, according to the results, the most found ones were clomazone, atrazine, tebuconazole, metconazole, pyrimethanil, and carbofuran-3-hydroxide, which is a metabolic degradation product of insecticide carbofuran. The most detected metals were Cu, Cr, Mg, Fe, and Mn. The assays with L. sativa and A. cepa showed alterations in the period after pesticide application, while C. elegans presented changes in both periods compared to the same collection sites. These results indicate that bioassays, especially C. elegans, could be complementary and useful tools for monitoring the toxicity in drinking water samples.

Enhanced removal of oxytetracycline by UV-driven advanced oxidation with peracetic acid: Insight into the degradation intermediates and N-nitrosodimethylamine formation potential

In this study, UV-driven advanced oxidation with peracetic acid (PAA) was adopted to enhance the removal of oxytetracycline (OTC) as well as to lower the formation potential of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Results implied that the combination of UV and PAA had a synergetic effect on both the removal and mineralization of OTC. OTC (≤5 mg L^-1) could be completely removed in 45 min in the UV/PAA system under the conditions of an initial pH of 7.10 and a PAA dose of 5 mg L^-1; additionally, 50.9% of mineralization rate of OTC was obtained. Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis and quenching experiments indicated that ·OH was the main oxidizer for the removal of OTC, while UV, PAA and carbon-centered radicals (R-C·) also participated in its removal. During the degradation of OTC, 31 kinds of degradation intermediates were traced, and 20 kinds of them were first detected in the UV/PAA system. OTC was removed through five pathways, and the hydroxylation pathway was involved in nearly the entire degradation period. The NDMA formation potential decreased by 65.8% after the reaction, and residual dimethylamine accounted for 15.1% of its total composition. The proposed UV/PAA process is a promising method not only for the removal of refractory antibiotics but also for controlling the formation of NDMA.

Evaluation of atrazine degradation applied to different energy systems

Atrazine is an herbicide widely used in crops and has drawn attention due to potential pollution present in soil, sediment, water, and food. Since conventional methods are not potentially efficient to persistent degradation of organic compounds, new technology has been developed to remove them, especially practices utilizing advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). This work aims to evaluate the use of different energies (ultraviolet (UV), microwaves (MW), and radiations (MW-UV)) to the herbicide atrazine through the process of photo-oxidation. These systems found degradation rates of around 12 % (UV), 28 % (MW), and 83 % (MW-UV), respectively, with time intervals of 120 s. After the photolytic processes, the samples were analyzed at a wavelength scanning the range of 190 to 300 nm, where the spectral analysis of the signal was used to evaluate the degradation of atrazine and the appearance of some other peaks (degradation products). The spectrum evaluation resulting from photolytic processes gave rise to a new signal which was confirmed by chromatography. This spectrum indicated the possible pathway of atrazine degradation by the process of photolytic MW-UV, generating atrazine-2-hydroxy, atrazine-desethyl-2-hidroxy, and atrazine-desisopropyl-2-hydroxy. The process indicated that in all situations, chloride was present in the analytic structure and was substituted by a hydroxyl group, which lowered the toxicity of the compound through the photolytic process MW-UV. Chromatographic analysis ascertained these preliminary assessments using spectrophotometry. It was also significantly observed that the process can be optimized by adjusting the pH of the solution, which was evident by an improvement of 10 % in the rate of degradation when subjected to a pH solution equal to 8.37.

Methanol diffusion in zeolite HY: a combined quasielastic neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulation study

The diffusion of methanol in zeolite HY is studied using tandem quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at 300–400 K.