Photo catalytic degradation of pesticides in immobilized bead photo reactor under solar irradiation

The discharge of wastewaters containing pesticides from industries, agricultural applications and surface run off are toxic, which is one of the major cause of water pollution and is responsible for a variety of adverse environmental impacts. Heterogeneous photo catalysis has proved to be an effective treatment method for removal of toxic pollutants from industrial wastewaters owing to its ability to convert them in to innocuous end products such as CO2, H2O and mineral acids. The photo catalytic degradation of three pesticides, widely used in India, viz., Monocrotophos (MCP), Endosulfan (ES) and Chlorpyriphos (CPS) was studied in sunlight using Immobilized Bead Photo Reactor (IBPR) under solar radiation. TiO2 coated on the polymeric bead was characterized using SEM, XRD, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and FT-IR. Batch degradation of pesticides were studied to establish the photo catalytic activity of immobilized beads under solar irradiation.