3. Results and discussion
3.1. Phenol crystals recovered
Fig. 2 shows a picture of phenol crystals obtained in the first stage (crystallizer) of the two-stage condenser. It is a white crystalline solid, which was characterized by the FTIR, XRD and TGA. Note that the phenol samples from the crystallizer were placed in air-tight vials quickly for characterizations, and care was exercised to ensure that there was no loss or gain of moisture in the samples.