Kinetic and mechanistic investigation of azathioprine degradation in water by UV, UV/H 2 O 2 and UV/persulfate

This study investigated the removal of azathioprine (AZA), an immunosuppressant xenobiotic found in hospital effluent, using direct UV-254 nm photolysis, UV/H2O2 and UV/persulfate (UV/PS). AZA cannot be effectively degraded by direct UV photolysis, while the photodegradation efficiency of AZA significantly increases with addition of H2O2 or PS, due to the generation of HO and SO4−, respectively. Compared with AZA removal of 10% by direct UV...