Abstract:

   Pesticides, which are aromatic, hardly degradable under environmental conditions, leading to stable organic contaminants are transported to the atmosphere, water systems, food chain, and can accumulate at far distances from their original sources. Novel treatment technologies are required to eliminate pesticides from contaminated waters due to ineffectiveness of the conventional treatment processes for pesticide removals. In recent years, combined photocatalytic-biological degradation is a promising alternative to eliminate contaminants not treatable by conventional techniques from water systems: Photocatalysis converts toxic organics into biodegradable products, while biodegradation efficiently mineralizes the products. In order to avoid unnecessary chemical and 60% energy consumption during pre-treatment, the percentage mineralization in the pre-treatment step is minimized and the operating cost is reduced. According to the literature, while only about 80% pesticide degradation and less than 50% mineralization can be observed by the chemical process, a completely degradation and about 90% pesticide mineralization can be obtained with hybrid reactor system. The aim of this review is to evaluate handling and examining fundamentals, mechanisms and recent studies in the literature within scope of pesticide removal conditions accordance with individual photocatalysis and/or biological treatment methods.

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