In a joint project the Universidade Federal de Uberlandia and the German Aerospace Center are developing solar water treatment technologies for industrial applications. Wastewater from chip-board production is difficult to detoxify by standard processes. Different advanced oxidation processes using solar light were tested on this effluent. In opposition to TiO2 treatment, the application of the photo-Fenton process using a compound parabolic collector (CPC) type solar reactor shows excellent results, with a reduction in the COD higher than 70% with the application of about 800 kJ m(-2) of UVA radiation. HPLC analysis shows an efficient degradation of the organic matter present in the effluent (formaldehyde, melamine, urea, wood extractives, lignin and urea/formaldehyde and melamine/formaldehyde resins fragments) prior to their complete disappearance. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.