Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol.160, No.2-3, 568-575, 2008
Solar photocatalytic degradation of isoproturon over TiO2/H-MOR composite systems
The photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of isoproturon herbicide was investigated in aqueous solution containing TiO2 over H-mordenite (H-MOR) photocatalysts under solar light. The catalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffused reflectance spectra (UV-Vis DRS), Fourier transform-infra red spectra (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The effect of TiO2, H-MOR support and different wt% of TiO2 over the support on the photocatalytic degradation and influence of parameters such as TiO2 loading, catalyst amount, pH and initial concentration of isoproturon on degradation are evaluated. 15 wt% TiO2/H-MOR composite is found to be optimum. The degradation reaction follows pseudo-first order kinetics and is discussed in terms of Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetic model. The extent of isoproturon mineralization studied with chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) measurements and similar to 80% mineralization occurred in 5 h. A plausible mechanism is proposed based on the intermediates identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.