The role of noble metals in TiO2 nanotubes for the abatement of parabens by photocatalysis, catalytic and photocatalytic ozonation

[Display omitted] •Solar photocatalysis presented higher degradation than UVA photocatalysis.•Pt- and Pd- TiO2 nanotubes led to better results than pristine TiO2 for UVA radiation.•Catalytic-based ozone experiments led to lower ozone consumption than single ozone.•Modified photocatalysts improved the catalytic ozonation process.•Pristine TiO2 nanotubes led the lowest ozone consumption in photocatalytic ozonation. The role of modified TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) with noble metals was studied for photocatalysis, catalytic and photocatalytic ozonation of a paraben’s mixture. The TNTs were obtained by anodization and were modified by photodeposition with 0.25 mol% of Au, Pt or Pd. Results showed that solar photocatalysis led to higher degradation than UVA radiation, and under UVA radiation, the use of 3 Pt-TNTs (3 TNTs plates modified with Pt) and 3 Pd-TNTs present the same effect as the use of 5 and 7 pristine-TNTs plates, respectively. The best parabens removal was achieved for Pd-TNTs under UVA radiation and pristine TNTs under solar radiation, with 43% and 81% removal in 120 min, respectively. All the catalytic and photocatalytic ozonation experiments led to less ozone consumption than single ozonation (transferred ozone dose (TOD) = 5.27 mgO3/L) with total parabens abatement. Catalytic ozonation experiments suggest that the presence of metals can promote the formation of oxidative radicals, with the Au-TNTs presenting best performance (TOD ≈ 3.59 mgO3/L) while pristine TNTs led to TOD = 4.98 mgO3/L. For photocatalytic ozonation, the pristine TNTs led to the lowest ozone consumption (TOD = 3.74 mgO3/L). Moreover, the use of hydroxyl radical scavenger showed that hydroxyl radical is formed during single and photocatalytic ozonation mechanism, which should be related to the natural and surface catalytic ozone decomposition.