Abstract

Optimal Conditions for Synthesis of 1, 4-Naphthaquinone by Photocatalytic Oxidation of Naphthalene in Closed System Reactor

Author(s): Faiq F. Karam, Muqdad I. Kadhim and Ayad F. Alkaim

Naphthalene is one of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These compounds have been classified as carcinogenic. According to this fact, conversion of Naphthalene to safer compound represented by 1, 4-Naphthaquinone is studied in this work. The mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of Naphthalene has been predicted using titanium dioxide as catalyst in closed system reactor. The main initial product for this degradation was 9,10-Naphthaquinone in addition to other intermediate products. The optimum conditions for oxidation are: light intensity at 2.0 mW.cm-2 and pH value of the solution at 7 has the best percentage yield of production. Other experimental parameters such as initial concentration of naphthalene, temperature of solution and mass of catalyst are constant in all experiments.