Advanced Electrochemical Oxidation of Methyl Parathion at Boron-Doped Diamond Electrodes

Plaguicide pollution is a major problem in agricultural zones due to their intensive use to attain increased crop yields. In the present work commercial methyl parathion (MP), was electrochemically degraded in a divided H-type cell equipped with two boron doped diamond electrodes, BDDE and a Nafion cation exchange membrane. High removals (i.e., > 90%) of total organic carbon, TOC and of chemical oxygen demand, COD were obtained after 180 min at a current density, j of 5 mA/cm(2) with specific energy consumption, E-sp of ca. 200 kWh per kg of COD degraded. These results show that the anodic oxidation route may be an efficient alternative for MP degradation in polluted waters.