PRODUCTION OF

FORMLIN FROM
METHANOL OXIDATION

Group 13
 Formalin

 Formalin is saturated 37% formaldehyde solution dissolved in water.

 preservative in some food products .

 It is used as disinfectant and preservative for biological specimens.

Gap

Mostly industry use silver Catalyst which

work at high temperature
Problem Statement

High Import duties

Small plant capacity in Pakistan
 control required tepmrature
Methodology

Different Manufacturing Processes

Silver Catalyst Process:
 Metal oxide (The Formox process)
Silver Catalyst Process:

 The silver catalyzed reactions are operated at

atmospheric pressure and very high temperatures
(600oC – 650oC) presented by the two simultaneous
reactions below (1) and (2).
 CH3OH + ½ O2 -> HCHO + H20
 HCHO + ½ O2 -> CO + H20
Metal oxide (The Formox process)

 process is selected for this project

 In the recently more commonly used Formox process using Iron-
Molebdenum catalyst methanol and oxygen react at 300-400°C
to produce formaldehyde according to the chemical equation:
 CH3OH + ½ O2 → H2CO + H2O.
 The silver-based catalyst is usually operated at a higher
temperature, about 650 °C.
Reasons for selecting this process:

 Higher conversion than silver catalyst process (up to 98 %) .

 As air is taken in excess, complete conversion of methanol takes place
whereas in silver catalyst process excess of methanol is taken which
prevents its complete conversion.
 As conversion is higher, unreacted compounds are formed very less and
thus purification steps become simpler.
 In Metal Oxide process, a distillation column is excluded. The reaction
products are directly fed to the absorber while in silver process distillation
column and an absorber is required to achieve desired results.
Process flow diagram
Sustainable development goals

Decent work and economic growth (

SDG 8)
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
(SDG 9)
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