Utilization of incense stick residues as a sustainable catalyst for efficient peroxydisulfate activation in the oxidative degradation of atrazine from real industrial effluents

This study explores the first use of incense stick residues (ISR) as a sustainable peroxydisulfate (PDS) activator for
removing atrazine (ATZ) from industrial effluents due to its abundant surface oxygen-containing functional
groups. The ISR/PDS degradation system achieved 96.46 % ATZ removal and 65.4 % mineralization under
optimal conditions (ATZ concentration = 10 mg/L, PDS concentration = 4.5 mM, pH = 7, and catalyst dose = 0.5
g/L). The ISR/PDS system also showed high removal of chlorpyrifos (88.91 %), diazinon (82.49 %), and malathion
(70.17 %). Over five consecutive runs, the ATZ removal efficiency decreased by only 6.8 %, demonstrating
the ISR stability. The degradation mechanism was studied, revealing that sulfate, hydroxyl, and superoxide
radicals contributed to ATZ degradation, with dominance for sulfate radicals. ATZ degradation ratio decreased
by 5.27 % in tap water, 22.88 % in river water, and 35.68 % in seawater compared to 96.46 % in deionized water.
In real agrochemical effluents, the ISR/PDS degradation system achieved 88.92 % ATZ degradation and 38.1 %
mineralization. Additionally, the cost study demonstrated the affordable cost of the degradation system. This
study suggests an inexpensive, effective, and sustainable degradation system that can be employed in real-world
applications.