Oxidation of herbicides through the electrochemical and photoelectrochemical process using dimensionally stable anodes: Ti/IrO2, Ti/RuO2 and BDD.

Abstract

Due to its toxicity and persistence in the environment, methods for the degradation of herbicides are important to minimize the adverse effects of these substances. Among the various methods used for oxidation of organic pollutants, we observe that the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) appear as a good option for the treatment of organic compounds. These methods have high oxidizing power to mineralize such compounds or oxidize them to molecules with lower toxicity. Among the AOP, this research aims to find a methodology that shows higher efficiency of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical degradation of the herbicides alachlor and diuron. The materials choose for the investigation of electrochemical degradation are dimensionally stable anodes of composition: Ti/IrxTi(1-x)O2, Ti/RuxTi(1-x)O2,the use of diamond electrode doped with boron (BDD)will be also investigated. Aiming to increase the efficiency of energy degradation and improvement of the process will be investigated the use of photoassisted electrochemical processes. The efficiency of degradation of the herbicides will be achieved using techniques for determining the amount of total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), chromatographic analysis and determination of the energy efficiency of different processes adopted.