Solar photocatalytic degradation of Aldrin

Abstract Photocatalytic degradation of the pesticide Aldrin dissolved in water was carried out, in one case, using concentrated solar radiation and, in another case, using non-concentrated solar radiation. In these experiments, the effects of catalyst concentration, oxidant agent concentration, and solar irradiation were tested. In experiments without irradiation, strong adsorption of the pesticide over titanium dioxide was observed in the first few minutes of contact in the presence of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ). These results can be explained by means of Coulombic interactions between the catalyst surface and the pesticide molecules. During the photodegradation process, results show a residual degradation (photolysis) in both the cases, when no catalyst was added. In the case of the non-concentrated solar system, the achieved results suggest that the use of H 2 O 2 increased the degradation rate. For concentrated sunlight, an increase of the Aldrin concentration was observed during the first few minutes of irradiation. This can be explained as a desorption process that is triggered by a change in surface charge of the catalyst in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) during irradiation. When photocatalysis was performed with TiO 2 alone, no Aldrin was detected in the water solutions throughout the entire experiment. This result was unexpected; however, it might be explained by the adsorption of the pesticide on the catalyst surface and by the absence of the oxidant’s effect. Three transformation products (TPs) of the degradation process were identified: dieldrin, chlordene and 12-hydroxy-dieldrin. The results presented here are in agreement with previously reported results for photocatalytic degradation of other chlorinated pesticides using lamps as radiation sources.