Muhammad Agung, Shinfuku Nomura, Shinobu Mukasa, Hiromichi Toyota, Otsuka Kazuhiko, Hidekazu Goto
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 in-liquid 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. © 2017 Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing.
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Matsuyama, 790-8577, Japan; Faculty of Engineering, Makassar State University, Makassar, 90-222, Indonesia; Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan
