Photolysis and photocatalysis of haloacetic acids in water: A review of kinetics, influencing factors, products, pathways, and mechanisms

[Display omitted] •The review discusses some issues regarding haloacetate photo(cata)lysis studies.•Various UV technologies exhibit different photo(cata)lytic kinetics, products, and pathways.•Haloacetate susceptibility often increases with molecular weight of substituted halogens.•OH is not the only driver in degrading haloacetates among various UV technologies.•Some knowledge gaps exist in technology comparison criteria and radicals sources. Haloacetic acids (HAAs) are a group of pollutants ubiquitous in natural environment and anthropogenic systems, and therefore in need of control. Photolysis and photocatalysis techniques via ultraviolet (UV)-based technologies have held promise for decades in degrading organic molecules in water, but their capacities in removing HAAs remain to be explored. To better understand the trends in the existing literature and to identify the knowledge gaps that may merit further exploration, this review compares the HAAs photodegradation kinetics, influencing factors, reaction products, pathways, and mechanisms for a variety of UV technologies. The selected UV processes are classified into three types: UV-only photolysis, photooxidation, and photoreduction. Overall, although trends vary significantly depending upon many factors, the photo-susceptibility of HAAs always increases with rising molecular weight of substituted halogen atom(s), with those chlorinated HAAs being the most refractory species. Notably, while many processes proved hydroxyl radical (OH) as the forcing driver, the patterns of kinetics among HAAs were not consistent among processes, suggesting that OH was not the only driver. Compared to earlier studies focusing on specific technologies to treat numerous contaminants through a material perspective, this review commits to understanding the commonalities and differences among multiple UV-based technologies in treating only one group of compound mainly via a chemistry viewpoint.