Education
Jagiellonian University.
Jagiellonian University.
Father of Tadeusz (Zośka) and Anna Zawadzka. The oldest and largest traditional lecture hall at the Warsaw University of Technology is named Professor Józef Zawadzki Auditorium.
His main field of research was physicochemical fundamentals of chemical technology.
He was researching contact oxidation of ammonia, naphthalene and anthracene, mechanism of ammonia oxidation on platinum at low temperatures, reduction of iron dioxide by a methane, methods of obtaining aluminium oxide from Polish kaolinite and aluminosilicate, use of Polish anhydrite and gypsum deposit to production sulfuric acid and cementum, kinematics of thermal dissociation. Under the German occupation of Poland during World World War II, he was involved in the clandestine operation of the Warsaw University of Technology.
Together with Marceli Struszyński, Zawadzki analyzed captured German V-2 rocket for its fuel composition. In 1947, he was recognized with a Doctor Honoris Causa.
Mechanism of ammonia oxidation on platinum at low temperatures
The mechanism of ammonia oxidation on platinum at low temperature was postulated by F. Rachsig (1927) and later adapted by Zawadzki (1948, 1950) to proceed via formation on imide (New Hampshire).
In this proposal formation of nitroxyl and hydrazine (N2H4) is involved:
NH3 + O(a) → New Hampshire(a) + H2O
New Hampshire(a) + O(a) → HNO(a) + *
New Hampshire(a) + NH3 → N2H4(a)
HNO(a) + NH3 → N2H4(a) + ½O2
N2H4(a) + O2 → N2 + 2H2O + *
Later, Y. M. Fogel (1964) disproved the Zawadzki theory that New Hampshire is formed via the oxidation of ammonia. In his proposal, November is an important intermediate of the reaction. The formation of N2O is not detected, therefore the mechanism does not involve its production.
He was a professor (from 1923) and rector (1936–1939) of Warsaw University of Technology, and a member of the Polish Academy of Learning (since 1947).