DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, cilt.252, ss.233-242, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)
Atrazine is an organic compound composed of s-triazine rings and has a long half-life which can be found in the sediment. It is prohibited to be included in the list of 45 priority pollutants specified in the European Union Water Framework Directive. In this study, it is possible to evaluate the treatment of atrazine using the heterogeneous photo-Fenton oxidation and sulfate radical-based oxidation. The Box-Behnken statistical method was used to investigate the effects of different concentrations of oxidant, catalyst, and chelating agent on atrazine removals. The maximum atrazine removal efficiency was obtained as 90% at persulfate 5 ppm, magnetite 1 ppm, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) 1 ppm concentration by sulfate radical-based oxidation. While the maximum atrazine removal efficiency was obtained as 92% at hydrogen peroxide 5 ppm, magnetite 5 ppm, EDTA 4 ppm concentration by heterogeneous photo-Fenton process. Although atrazine removal efficiencies were nearly the same value at these processes, the requirement of magnetite and EDTA concentrations in sulfate radical-based oxidation is lower than the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process. In addition, the sulfate radical-based oxidation process is more suitable than the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process due to not formation of deethylatrazine metabolites, which is more toxic than atrazine compound.