Removal of Pesticide Atrazine from Raw Water

Abstract

Removal of atrazine, a triazine herbicide, from its model solutions in raw river water (3-4 mg l^-1) was investigated. First, coagulation and filtration were applied. As a third step, adsorption on granulated active carbon or photocatalytic degradation on TiO₂ were used. While the classic two-step treatment practically did not change the starting atrazine concentration, the filtration through active carbon caused its decrease to 0.5-0.2 mg.l^-1 and the photocatalysis to 0.05 mg.l^-1. However, a prolonged treatment process and increased operation costs are major drawbacks of the last mentioned method.