BACKGROUND The recovery and reuse of sonocatalysts are the pivotal issues in the sonocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. The use of some natural minerals as the carrier is not only beneficial to recycling of sonocatalysts, but also reduces the treatment costs of organic pollutants. Two kinds of hydroxyapatite (HAP), Ox Bone (OB)-HAP and synthesized (Syn)-HAP combine with the Pt-TiO2/(Er3+:Y3Al5O12@Ta2O5) (P-TET) composite, obtaining two Z-scheme sonocatalysts, P-TET/OB-HAP and P-TET/Syn-HAP, respectively. The sonocatalytic activities of the prepared samples are investigated via degradation of prometryn and disinfection of Escherichia coli. RESULTS A series of characterizations showed that the Z-scheme P-TET/(OB or Syn)-HAP sonocatalysts were prepared successfully. To evaluate their sonocatalytic activities, some influencing factors such as ultrasonic irradiation time, inorganic oxidants, used times and trapping agents on the sonocatalytic degradation prometryn were determined. The best degradation ratio (80.31% based on N computing and 85.07% based on S atom computing) of prometryn could be obtained for 10 mmol L-1 K2S2O8, 1.0 g L-1 P-TET/OB-HAP sonocatalyst and 150 min ultrasonic irradiation. The excellent sonocatalytic disinfection ratio (88.65%) of E. coli could also be obtained under 40 min ultrasound irradiation. Moreover, a possible mechanism on sonocatalytic degradation of prometryn was illustrated. CONCLUSION The treated bovine bone HAP was directly used as a carrier to combine with P-TET to construct a novel Z-scheme P-TET/OB-HAP sonocatalyst. The high degradation ratio of prometryn and disinfection ratio of E. coli showed that P-TET/OB-HAP could be a promising sonocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants and the disinfection of bacteria. (c) 2020 Society of Chemical Industry