Light effects on Carbofuran and Fluometuron: Impact on natural waters. Spectrophotometric study

The aim of this work is to study the effect of light on Carbofuran and Fluometuron in various solvents, and to assess their ability to contaminate surface and ground waters. The results of this study show that these products are notoriously unstable under the effect of irradiation. Using water as solvent, we observed that the photodegradation rate of these products was slow, so they can lead to surface waters contamination. It was also observed that the photodegradation of Carbofuran in water was pH dependent. Indeed, Carbofuran is stable in neutral and acidic media, but undergoes photodegradation in basic medium. The kinetics of photodegradation showed that Fluometuron was first order kinetics in all solvents used, while for Carbofuran the kinetics was zero order reaction in the same solvents. Thus, at low concentrations, photodegradation of Carbofuran took place, very quickly. The measurements of the infiltration rate of these two products showed high mobility in the soil. For Carbofuran, the infiltration rate was 0.88 cm/min, and for Fluometuron it was 0.66 cm/min. As a result, these products can contaminate groundwater.