Photolysis of N-chlorourea and its effect on urea removal in a combined pre-chlorination and UV254 process

Urea is one of the most important nitrogenous organic pollutants in water, and its removal attracts attention because of a growing concern related to water eutrophication. Urea has previously been considered to be largely unaffected by the UV-chlorine process. However, N-chlorourea, an intermediate of urea chlorination, has been shown to absorb ultraviolet radiation, and as such its photolysis is possible. Experiments were conducted to quantify the kinetics of N-chlorourea degradation under UV254 irradiation. The results showed that about 92% of N-chlorourea was degraded under UV254 irradiation. Ammonia and nitrate were detected as the primary nitrogen containing products of the photolysis of N-chlorourea. Solution pH ranging from 3.0 to 7.5 influenced the distribution of these products but not on the degradation rate. Based on these data, a possible pathway of photodegradation of N-chlorourea under UV254 is proposed. The degradation of urea was also achieved by the photolysis of N-chlorourea during the combined pre-chlorination and UV254 process. Insights gained in this study may be useful for exploring the potential of combined pre-chlorination and UV254 process on urea removal in water treatment.