Degradation of Glyphosate Herbicide by an Anodic Oxidation Process

Abstract

Glyphosate is occasionally detected as water contaminants in agriculture areas where the herbicide is used extensively. The removal of glyphosate in synthetic solution using advanced oxidation process (AOP) is a possible approach for remediation of contaminated waters. Here, the ability of anodic oxidation for the degradation and mineralisation of glyphosate herbicide was investigated using Ti/PbO 2 anode in batch mode. The experimental results provided that the current intensity, treatment time, pH and initial concentration are the influent parameters on the glyphosate degradation. At the optimal condition, 16.9 mgL −1 of glyphosate decreased up to 0.6 mg L −1 , i.e the removal efficiencies were 95 ± 16 %. This work demonstrates that electrochemical oxidation is a promising process for degradation and mineralization of glyphosate.