To understand the degradation of endocrine disrupting chemicals （EDCs） in natural environment with existence of iron oxides and carboxylic acids, the dependence of bisphenol A （BPA） photodegradation on the initial concentration of oxalate （Cox） in lepidocrocite （y-FeOOH） aqueous suspension was investigated under both UV and visible lights in this study. Lepidocrocite powder was home-prepared by a hydrothermal process. It was found that BPA degradation was promoted greatly in the presence of oxalate owing to the formation of lepidocrocite-oxalate complex. And there was an optimal Cox, which was 2.0 and 2.4 mmol/L, under UV and visible lights, respectively. The first-order kinetic constant, k value increased 38 times from 0.17 × 10^-2 min^-1 in the absence of oxalate to 6.39 × 10^-2 min^-1 in the presence of oxalate with an optimal Cox （2.0 mmol/L） under UV irradiation, and almost 306 times from 0.02 × 10^-2 min^-1 in the absence of oxalate to 6.11 × 10^-2 min^-1 in the presence of oxalate with an optimal Cox （2.4 mmol/L） under visible irradiation. The BPA degradation rate increased and the first-order kinetic constants decreased with the increase in BPA initial concentration. The dependence of the variation of pH value, total-Fe and Fe^2＋ during the photoreaction on Cox was also investigated. The pH value increased obviously with the reaction time. Total-Fe increased dramatically at the first 5 min and then decreased quickly under UV irradiation and slowly under visible irradiation. The initial concentration of oxalate is a main factor to affect BPA photodegradation in aqueous suspension under both UV and visible lights.
