VUV/UV is a chemical-free and straightforward solution for the degradation of emerging contaminants from water sources. The objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of VUV/UV advanced oxidation process for the effective degradation of a target micropollutant, atrazine, under continuous flow operation of 0.5-6.5 L/min. To provide an in-depth understanding of process, a comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, incorporating flow hydrodynamics, 185 nm VUV and 254 nm UV radiation propagation along with a complete kinetic scheme, was developed and validated experimentally. The experimental degradation rates and CFD predicted values showed great consistency with less than 2.9% average absolute relative deviation (AARD). Utilizing the verified model, energy-efficiency of the VUV/UV process under a wide range of reactor configurations was assessed in terms of electrical energy-per-order (EEO), (OH)-O-center dot concentration as well as delivered UV and VUV dose distributions. Thereby, the extent of mixing and circulation zones was found as key parameter controlling the treatment economy and energy-efficiency of the VUV/UV process. Utilizing a CFD-driven baffle design strategy, an improved VUV/UV process with up to 72% reduction in the total electrical energy requirement of atrazine degradation was introduced and verified experimentally. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.