One-step phenol production from a water–toluene mixture using radio frequency in-liquid plasma

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to understand the process of converting toluene into phenol in a one-step process directly from a water-toluene mixture using the plasma in-liquid method. Experiments were conducted using 27.12 MHz radio frequency (RF) in-liquid plasma to decompose a solution of 30% toluene. Based on the experimental results as evaluated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), along with additional analysis by the Gaussian calculation, density functional theory (DFT) hybrid exchange-correlational functional (B3LYP) and 6-311G basis, the phenol generated from toluene was quantified including any by-products. In the experiment, it was found that OH radicals from water molecules produced using RF inliquid plasma play a significant role in the chemical reaction with toluene. The experimental results suggest that phenol can be directly produced from a water-toluene mixture. The maximum phenol yields were 0.0013% and 0.0038% for irradiation times of 30 s and 60 s, respectively, at 120 W.

Application of proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry for the assessment of toluene removal in a nonthermal plasma reactor

“…Ogasawara and Wu reported that formic acid is the main by‐product in the exhaust of NTP‐treated toluene. Furthermore, benzene, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, and benzoic acid have been identified on the catalyst surface . In addition, acetone, acetic acid, and formaldehyde have also been identified in the NTP decomposition of toluene .…”

“…Furthermore, benzene, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, and benzoic acid have been identified on the catalyst surface. [46][47][48] In addition, acetone, acetic acid, and formaldehyde have also been identified in the NTP decomposition of toluene. 49 According to these previous results, CH 2 In the subsequent experiments, the gas-phase organic by-products were quantified by PTR-TOFMS to give a more precise evaluation of the NTP technique.…”

Study on Performance and Mechanism of the Ball-Milling-Driven Piezoelectrochemical Effect on Catalytic Oxidation of Toluene in the Air Condition

“…Toluene hydrogen peroxide undergoes rearrangement reaction under acidic conditions to generate phenol and formaldehyde gas. 30 Hydroxyl radicals can also be produced in the reaction process as secondary oxidation species to react with toluene to produce phenol 32…”