Destruction of herbicide atrazine by solar radiation in photo-Fenton system

The efficiency of solar-induced destruction of herbicide atrazine in natural water and aqueous extract from agrogenic and unbroken soil by using photo-Fenton system was studied in this work. 80-90 % atrazine was removed in all water matrices. Using xenon lamp as a solar simulator, the rate of atrazine destruction was found to be higher in aqueous soil extracts than that observed in natural water. However, no significant difference was found between the destruction dynamics in natural water and soil extracts, exposed to natural solar light. This could be attributed to the higher hydroxyl radical exposure under the higher UV irradiance of the Sun.