Agron. Sustain. Dev. 25 (2005) 267-270
DOI: 10.1051/agro:2005005

Degradation of three pesticides used in viticulture by electrogenerated Fenton's reagent

Nihal Oturan and Mehmet A. Oturan

Laboratoire des Géomatériaux et Géologie de l'Ingénieur-CNRS FRE2455, Université de Marne la Vallée, 5 boulevard Descartes, Bât. IFI, Champs sur Marne, 77454 Marne la Vallée Cedex 2, France

(Accepted 1 March 2004)

Abstract - The degradation of three pesticides: Mistel GD (Cymoxanil + Mancozeb + additives), Cuprofix CZ (Cymoxanil + Zineb + CuSO₄ + additives) and Lannate 20L (Metomyl + ethanol + other additives) (Fig. 1), used in viticulture and marketed by various companies, was studied by the Electro-Fenton process. The Fenton's reagent, generated in situ by electrochemistry in a catalytic way, leads to the production of hydroxyl radicals which are very powerful oxidizing agents. These radicals react with organic pollutants and thus lead to their degradation. Each pesticide contains many active ingredients and additives. The treated solutions were followed by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurement during the processing permitted the evaluation of the kinetic of organic matter decay and the mineralization efficiency. The degradation efficiency was measured for the pesticides under examination using electrogenerated Fenton's reagent. The effects of catalyst nature and concentration on the degradation and the mineralization rates were studied.

Key words: Electro-Fenton / Fenton's reagent / hydroxyl radicals / pesticide / mineralization

Corresponding author: Mehmet A. Oturan oturan@univ-mlv.fr

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2005