This study aimed to prepare titania (TiO₂) nanotube (TNT) arrays grown on un-activated carbon fibers (UCFs), with the application of different TiO₂ loadings based on the coating-hydrothermal process, and to evaluate their photocatalytic activity for the degradation of sub-ppm levels of aromatic pollutants (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and o-xylene (BTEX)) using a plug-flow photocatalytic reactor. The characteristics of the prepared photocatalysts were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Spectral analysis showed that the prepared photocatalysts were closely associated with the characteristics of one-dimensional nanostructured TiO₂ nanotubes for TNTUCFs and spherical shapes for TiO₂-coated UCF (TUCF). The photocatalytic activities of BTEX obtained from TNTUCFs were higher than those obtained from a reference photocatalyst, TUCF). Specifically, the average degradation efficiencies of BTEX observed for TNTUCF-10 were 81%, 97%, 99%, and 99%, respectively, while those observed for TUCF were 14%, 42%, 52%, and 79%, respectively. Moreover, the photocatalytic activities obtained for TNTUCFs suggested that the degradation efficiencies of BTEX varied with changes in TiO₂ loadings, allowing for the optimization of TiO₂ loading. Another important finding was that input concentrations and air flow rates could be important parameters for the treatment of BTEX, which should be considered for the optimization of TNTUCFs application. Taken together, TNTUCFs can be applied to effectively degrade sub-ppm levels of gas-phase aromatic pollutants through the optimization of operational conditions.
Keywords: BTEX; one-dimensional nanostructured; sub-ppm aromatic; titania loading.