Screening of Novel Catalyst for the Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde (CH2O) is produced industrially by the Formox process (CH3OH + ½O2 → CH2O + H2O) over a ferric molybdate catalyst with a yield of up to 95 % [1]. During the last couple of decades, the methanol feed concentration has steadily increased [1], which has re-sulted in a catalyst lifetime of only 1-2 years due to vo-latilization and migration of the active component (mo-lybdenum) leading to an increasing pressure drop over the reactor and loss of selectivity [2,3].

Due to these difficulties, it is of interest to investigate alternative catalyst systems for the oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde.