A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde

The selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde is a growing million-dollar industry, and has been commercial for close to a century. The Formox process, which is the largest production process today, utilizes an iron molybdate catalyst, which is highly selective, but has a short lifetime of 6 m...

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Main Authors: Joachim Thrane, Uffe V. Mentzel, Max Thorhauge, Martin Høj, Anker D. Jensen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-10-01
Series:Catalysts
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/11/11/1329
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author Joachim Thrane
Uffe V. Mentzel
Max Thorhauge
Martin Høj
Anker D. Jensen
author_facet Joachim Thrane
Uffe V. Mentzel
Max Thorhauge
Martin Høj
Anker D. Jensen
author_sort Joachim Thrane
collection DOAJ
description The selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde is a growing million-dollar industry, and has been commercial for close to a century. The Formox process, which is the largest production process today, utilizes an iron molybdate catalyst, which is highly selective, but has a short lifetime of 6 months due to volatilization of the active molybdenum oxide. Improvements of the process’s lifetime is, thus, desirable. This paper provides an overview of the efforts reported in the scientific literature to find alternative catalysts for the Formox process and critically assess these alternatives for their industrial potential. The catalysts can be grouped into three main categories: Mo containing, V containing, and those not containing Mo or V. Furthermore, selected interesting catalysts were synthesized, tested for their performance in the title reaction, and the results critically compared with previously published results. Lastly, an outlook on the progress for finding new catalytic materials is provided as well as suggestions for the future focus of Formox catalyst research.
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spelling doaj.art-10c8d2c65ea64906a214a5317dd63de22023-11-22T22:45:34ZengMDPI AGCatalysts2073-43442021-10-011111132910.3390/catal11111329A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to FormaldehydeJoachim Thrane0Uffe V. Mentzel1Max Thorhauge2Martin Høj3Anker D. Jensen4Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkHaldor Topsøe A/S, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkHaldor Topsøe A/S, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkDepartment of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkHaldor Topsøe A/S, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkThe selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde is a growing million-dollar industry, and has been commercial for close to a century. The Formox process, which is the largest production process today, utilizes an iron molybdate catalyst, which is highly selective, but has a short lifetime of 6 months due to volatilization of the active molybdenum oxide. Improvements of the process’s lifetime is, thus, desirable. This paper provides an overview of the efforts reported in the scientific literature to find alternative catalysts for the Formox process and critically assess these alternatives for their industrial potential. The catalysts can be grouped into three main categories: Mo containing, V containing, and those not containing Mo or V. Furthermore, selected interesting catalysts were synthesized, tested for their performance in the title reaction, and the results critically compared with previously published results. Lastly, an outlook on the progress for finding new catalytic materials is provided as well as suggestions for the future focus of Formox catalyst research.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/11/11/1329formaldehydeFormoxselective oxidationmethanolmolybdenum
spellingShingle Joachim Thrane
Uffe V. Mentzel
Max Thorhauge
Martin Høj
Anker D. Jensen
A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde
Catalysts
formaldehyde
Formox
selective oxidation
methanol
molybdenum
title A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde
title_full A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde
title_fullStr A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde
title_full_unstemmed A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde
title_short A Review and Experimental Revisit of Alternative Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde
title_sort review and experimental revisit of alternative catalysts for selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde
topic formaldehyde
Formox
selective oxidation
methanol
molybdenum
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/11/11/1329
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