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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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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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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language | English |
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series | Catalysts |
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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