Vaccum-ultraviolet (VUV) is effective for elimination of organic contaminants in aqueous environment and degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ) by VUV irradiation was systematically investigated in this study. A dynamic kinetic model was developed to simulate the destruction of CBZ that is mainly initiated by hydroxyl radicals (HO'). The second-order rate constant of the reaction between CBZ and HO was determined to be 1.4 x 10(9) M-1 s(-1). Effect of initial CBZ concentration, VUV irradiation intensity and natural organic matter (NOM) were further investigated in several batch experiments. The predicted CBZ removal rates increased with the increasing VUV intensity, while decreased with the increasing initial CBZ and NOM concentrations. Based on the electrical energy per order (EE/O) calculation, the optimal VUV intensity was determined to be 7.5 x le Einstein s I. Meanwhile, several intermediates/products were identified and their time-dependent evolution profiles were determined, and finally a plausible degradation pathway of CBZ was proposed. Ecotoxicity assessment indicated that the potential toxicity of CBZ and its oxidation products should be paid more attention in the VUV process.