Formaldehyde Lab Report

Formaldehyde is known to be one of the most reactive organic compounds. It can be produced by various reactions. It can produced by methods such as: Methanol undergoes an oxidation reaction in the presence of catalysts, ethyl-alcohol, coal gas, ethylene, methane, glycol, glycerin, and carbon monoxide
Production of formalin form methanol:
Formaldehyde is manufactured from methanol and air either by using a silver catalyst or a metal oxide catalyst.

Using Silver Catalyst:
To convert methanol to formaldehyde using silver catalyst we generally carry out the reaction at an atmospheric pressure and at 600 – 720°C. The excess of methanol in the methanol-air mixture affects the temperature of the reaction. The quality of the silver catalytic surface determine the amount of air used. The following reactions take place

CH_3 OH+ 1/2 O_2→HCHO+H_2 O

CH_3 OH→HCHO+H_2

The conversion of methanol will be 65 – 75% per pas
Silver catalyst process:
The ratio of methanol and air maintained about 35-45%. This mixture heated to the reaction temperature 550-600 oC by preheaters before entering into the silver catalyst reactor. Then we convert methanol to formaldehyde by using a catalytic reactor which is fixed bed type filled with silver catalyst. The fraction of conversion depends on the catalyst type and the temperature of the reactor at fixed operating pressure. Advance reactor controls both reactions, exothermic combustion reaction and endothermic dehydration reaction simultaneously in single