The Role of Humic Substances in the Photocatalytic Degradation of Water Contaminants

Photocatalysis over irradiated Ti02 has been proved to efficiently abate more than 80% of the organic carbon pertaining to a commercial humic acid (HA). The presence of HA up to 50 mg L−1 has been found to decrease the degradation rate of some model pollutants, namely phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and tetrachloromethane. However, the total organic carbon measurements and chloride evolution ensure that the disappearance of the initial pollutants is not due to binding to HA structure, but to an efficient mineralization process. HA' s are able to scavenge both the oxidative and the reductive active species as shown by the inhibiting effect on the rate of disappearance of phenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol (essentially oxidative), and of CCI4 (initially reductive).