Developments in solar photocatalysis for water purification

Photocatalytic processes in the presence of titanium dioxide provide an interesting route to destroy hazardous organic contaminants, being operational in the UV-A domain with a potential use of solar radiation. In this paper, some specific contaminant classes of interest such as ethylbenzene, gamma-lindane and EPTC have been tested at laboratory scale and in the field to determine the feasibility of the photocatalytic oxidation of organic contaminants in water.Our preliminary results at laboratory scale with these chemicals have provided a better understanding of the photocatalytic process which seems to be efficient and not selective. The application of these processes in removal of gamma-lindane from water operating in a parabolic trough concentrator has demonstrated to be effective, being possible to reduce 99.9 % of gamma-lindane levels in water in acceptable times. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.