Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of Russian ...

PP-V-12PRODUCTION OF METHYL FORMATE AND FORMALDEHYDE BYCATALYTIC METHANOL CONVERSIONN.I. Margulis, E.V. EgorovaMoscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology named after M.V. Lomonosov,119571, Moscow, Vernadsky avenue, 86, Russia,fax: +7 (495)-246-48-23, E-mail: nhsigt@mitht.ruNowadays, due to continuous price growth for oil and latest worldwide tendencies ofdecreasing the dependence and in long term even repudiation from raw oil, the aim to developsynthesis of valuable organic compounds from alternative raw materials becomes one of themost relevant goals in chemical technologies. One of the best examples is the methanolproduced from synthesis gas which further can be utilized for methyl formate andformaldehyde production the valuable intermediate products for organic synthesis. Methylformate production is the first step in the synthesis of acetic acid, N,N-dimethylformamideand hydrogen cyanide.Commercial process of methyl formate production has a number of following essentialdrawbacks: 1) the system is operated at a pressure of carbon monoxide highly aboveatmospheric, 2) the system is operated in the presences of catalysts rather sensitive toimpurities that demands greater expenses for stage of starting material purification.Gas phase dehydration of methanol being the most investigated way of methyl formateproduction at present is a heterogeneous catalytic process operated at the atmosphericpressure in the flow reactor.As methyl formate derived form methanol dehydration easily take part in side reactionsthen to increase competitiveness it is necessary to create effective catalytic systems.Our recent studies have shown copper catalysts based on composite carbon materialsibunit developed in Institute of catalysis named after G.K. Boreskov of the Siberiandepartment of the Russian Academy of Science to be highly effective for methanoldehydration.Methanol conversion products analysis has shown that besides methyl formate producingthere is significant amount of formaldehyde to be formed in the high temperature range.Formaldehyde derived thus may be used as marketable product and raw material in polymersynthesis.Currently formaldehyde is received either oxidation or oxidative dehydration over silvercatalysts or oxide catalysts based on iron molybdate. Formaldehyde thereby received containswater that sharply narrows opportunities of its further processing into high-quality products.479