Optimization of pre-industrial solar photocatalytic mineralization of commercial pesticides - Application to pesticide container recycling

One of the most important sources of polluted water with high pesticide con tent is the rinsing of empty pesticide containers. In this paper, a pre-ind ustrial TiO2-solar photocatalytic treatment is used to prevent such polluti on of continental waters and 10 commercial pesticides are used at various i nitial concentrations to demonstrate the treatment. Total organic carbon (T OC) analysis is employed to confirm the total mineralization of the contami nants. The results are compared with phenol degradation under the same expe rimental conditions. Relative photonic efficiency related to TOC (zeta(r),( TOC)) is calculated to facilitate comparison with other experimental device s. Furthermore, a kinetic model is proposed for fitting experimental data b y an approximate kinetic solution which has the analytical form of a Langmu ir-Hinshelwood equation but without its original significance. Finally, an example of calculation of solar plant size from experimental and solar radi ation data is shown. (C)2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.