Issue 6, 2015

Formaldehyde production via hydrogenation of carbon monoxide in the aqueous phase

Abstract

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is an essential building block in many industries for producing value-added chemicals like resins, polymers and adhesives. Industrially, formaldehyde is produced via partial oxidation and/or dehydrogenation of methanol. Methanol is produced from natural gas in a series of processes, with synthesis gas as an intermediate. This study presents for the first time, formaldehyde production via hydrogenation of carbon monoxide in the aqueous phase, which eliminates the need for methanol synthesis, which may potentially save capital costs and reduce energy consumption. Gas phase hydrogenation of CO into formaldehyde is thermodynamically limited and therefore, resulted in a low CO conversion of only 1.02 × 10−4%. However, the aqueous phase hydrogenation of CO into formaldehyde was found to be thermodynamically favourable and kinetically limited. The highest CO conversion of 19.14% and selectivity of 100% were achieved by using a Ru–Ni/Al2O3 catalyst at 353 K and 100 bar. The rapid hydration of formaldehyde in the aqueous phase to form methylene glycol shifts the CO hydrogenation reaction equilibrium towards formaldehyde formation. Increasing the pressure and stirring speed increased the yield of formaldehyde, whereas increasing the temperature above 353 K resulted in a lower yield.

Graphical abstract: Formaldehyde production via hydrogenation of carbon monoxide in the aqueous phase

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Mar 2015
Accepted
22 Apr 2015
First published
24 Apr 2015

Green Chem., 2015,17, 3500-3507

Formaldehyde production via hydrogenation of carbon monoxide in the aqueous phase

A. M. Bahmanpour, A. Hoadley and A. Tanksale, Green Chem., 2015, 17, 3500 DOI: 10.1039/C5GC00599J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements