formaldehyde - Sciencemadness Dot Org

Chapter 1
Formaldehyde Production
Since its discover}" in the latter half of the nineteenth century, formaldehyde
has become an industrial product of outstanding commercial
value. According to the United States Tariff Commission 1 , production
figures for commercial 37 per cent formaldehyde were 134,478,827 and
1S038S4,573 pounds for 1939 and 1940, respectively, in the United States
alone.* United States production of formaldehyde solution in 1914 was
reported to be 8:426,000 lbs; in 1927, 26,447,000 lbs, 55 These figures give
a representative index of the almost continuous growth of the domestic
formaldehyde industry since its beginning in 1901.
Commercially) formaldehyde is manufactured and marketed chiefly in
the form of an aqueous solution containing 37 per cent by weight dissolved
formaldehyde (CH20) plus sufficient methanol (8 to 15 per cent) to prevent
precipitation of polymer under ordinary conditions of transportation and
storage. Solutions containing less than 1 per cent methanol are also
known to commerce, but can be employed only where conditions permit
their transportation and sale in bulk, since they must be kept warm to
prevent polymerization 17 . Thirty per cent formaldehyde solution containing
less than 1 per cent methanol has a limited application. This
solution does not precipitate polymer at ordinary temperature and does not
require the presence of methanol or other stabilizers 17 .
Formaldehyde is also marketed in the form of its polymeric hydrate,
paraformaldehyde, HO - (CH20) tt • H or (CH2OVH2O, sometimes erroneously
designated as "trioxymethylene". This polymer behaves chemically
as a solid, substantially anhydrous form of formaldehyde which analyses
as containing not less than 95 per cent CH20. Paraformaldehyde is
manufactured from formaldehyde solution and is consequently the more
expensive form (pages 69-77).
Recently, trioxane, (CH20)3: the true cyclic trimer of formaldehyde
(pages 94-99) has been publicized 14 .
Hexamethylenetetramine, (CHa^X^ which is formed by the reaction of
formaldehyde and ammonia (Cf. Chapter 18) reacts as formaldehyde in
many instances and therefore may be regarded as a special form of formaldehyde
from the standpoint of use.
* The Chemicals Division of the War Production Board has recently publicised
several wartime U. S. production figures for formaldehyde. These are: 3X,826,287
pounds for August 1942, 44,036,162 pounds for July 1943, and 43,625,339 pounds for
August 1943. From these figures it would appear that the U. S. production figure for
1943 will have au order of magnitude of approximately 500,000,000 pounds.
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