The catalytic activity of copperoxide nanoparticles was investigated for the removal of organic pollutants in aqueous solutions, using hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant. Complete degradation of both alachlor and phenanthrene was achieved after 20 min. The kinetics of the reaction was found to be pseudo-first-order with respect to the pollutant. The influence on the reaction kinetics of different catalyst samples, consisting of the same material but of different origin and different particle properties, was examined. The effects of several factors such as irradiation, oxidant concentration, ionic strength and pH on the reaction were also investigated. The catalysis is not photo-induced and can be performed without UV-vis irradiation. In particular. an optimal oxidant concentration was determined for the studied system. The presence of salts was found to inhibit the alachlor degradation rate. The addition of high concentrations of oxidant or salt results in pseudo-zero-order kinetics. However, NaCl at very high concentrations (>1 M) was found to cause a dramatic increase in reaction rate. The catalysis is efficient over a wide range of pH values. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.