A generalized model for the evaluation of solar photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants in heterogeneous pilot-scale solar photoreactors using slurry suspensions of TiO2-P25 is presented. The model is developed through the coupling of a modified rate equation derived from a Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic approach and a new model of "effective" quantum yield which is based explicitly on the optical properties of the catalyst and on the incident photon flux, but independent of the composition of the reactants in solution. The model was validated experimentally in three pilot-scale, compound parabolic collectors (CPCs) of different length. The kinetic parameters obtained from this new model are intrinsic to the nature of the reagent system. The results show that this approach is applicable to other photocatalytic degradation systems and is independent of the operating conditions, the geometry and the scale of the reactor. The model could also predict quantum yields of the photocatalytic degradation of 1,4-dioxane, hormone disrupting estrogens (E1, E2, EE2, E3), propanal, dichloroacetic acid, phenol, chlorophenols, methylphenols, 2,4-dichlorophenoxy-acetic acid (2,4-D), diuron and ametryne in single and multicomponent systems. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.