Nickel carbon monoxide

Catalysts in an oxidized state showed high activity in the oxidation of carbon monoxide [nickel catalysts (146) ] and hydrogen [molybdenum catalysts (146a)]. 

Metals having a zero oxidation state can still be complexed by a similarly soft bonding ligand such as carbon monoxide. Nickel carbonyl, Ni(CO)4, is a gas used in the nickel refining industry in order to volatilize and purify nickel from its ores. It is interesting to note that... 

Transport may occur over the surface or through the atmosphere, with ihe latter most likely to involve molecular intermediates. This is true with platinum-alumina, for example, where oxidizing atmospheres during regeneration produce volatile PtO molecules. In nickel-silica catalysts exposed to carbon monoxide, nickel carbonyl serves the same purpose. For surface transport, atomic migration is favored, but depends on the substrate composition. 

Now warm the tube C gently with a flame until it is just too hot to touch—between 60 and 100 —and increase the flow of carbon monoxide. Nickel carbonyl vapor is carried over and decomposes in C, depositing a mirror of nickel on the surfaces. The principle of the Mond process for purifying nickel is to pass carbon monoxide over the metal and then to decompose the nickel carbonyl on the surface of heated nickel balls. Cobalt, the main impurity to be removed, does not react with carbon monoxide under these conditions, and in any case its carbonyl is not volatile. Nickel completely free from cobalt is thus obtained. 

A variety of processes have been used for the production of esters of acrylic (propenoic) acid, including the solvolysis of acrylonitrile with c. H2SO4 and an alcohol. The Reppe process, commercialized by BASF and associated companies, is based on the reaction of acetylene with carbon monoxide, nickel carbonyl and an alcohol. However, the last U.S. operator of this process commissioned a propylene oxidation plant in October, 1982. 

In the Reppe pocess, acetylene is reacted with carbon monoxide, nickel carbonyl, and water to produce acrylic add. If the appropriate alcohol is used in place of the water, the acrylate ester can be produced directly. Acrylates made by the Reppe process tend to contain more propionates than do those made... 

Yates J T and Garland C 1961 Infrared studies of carbon monoxide chemisorbed on nickel surfaces J. Catal. 65 617-24... 

The carbon dioxide is removed by passage of the gas through a mixture of sodium and calcium hydroxides. Very pure carbon monoxide is produced by heating nickel tetracarbonyl (see p. 179) ... 

Appreciable quantities are also obtained as a by-product in the manufacture of hydrogen from naphtha-gaseous hydrocarbons. In this process the gaseous hydrocarbon and superheated steam under a pressure of about 10 atmospheres and at a temperature of 1000 K are passed over a nickel-chromium catalyst. Carbon monoxide and hydrogen are produced ... 

This reaction is an undesirable side reaction in the manufacture of hydrogen but utilised as a means of removing traces of carbon monoxide left at the end of the second stage reaction. The gases are passed over a nickel catalyst at 450 K when traces of carbon monoxide form methane. (Methane does not poison the catalyst in the Haber process -carbon monoxide Joes.)... 

Nickel tetracarbonyl Ni(CO)4 was the first metal carbonyl to be discovered, by Mond in 1890 it is obtained by passage of carbon monoxide over nickel metal heated to 320 K. It is a volatile, toxic liquid (b.p. 315 K), and has a tetrahedral structure. It has considerable stability, but inflames in air it is believed that in the structure... 

With an atomic number of 28 nickel has the electron conflguration [Ar]4s 3c (ten valence electrons) The 18 electron rule is satisfied by adding to these ten the eight elec Irons from four carbon monoxide ligands A useful point to remember about the 18 electron rule when we discuss some reactions of transition metal complexes is that if the number is less than 18 the metal is considered coordinatively unsaturated and can accept additional ligands... 

Like nickel iron reacts with carbon monoxide to form a com... 

Acetylene-Based Routes. Walter Reppe, the father of modem acetylene chemistry, discovered the reaction of nickel carbonyl with acetylene and water or alcohols to give acryUc acid or esters (75,76). This discovery led to several processes which have been in commercial use. The original Reppe reaction requires a stoichiometric ratio of nickel carbonyl to acetylene. The Rohm and Haas modified or semicatalytic process provides 60—80% of the carbon monoxide from a separate carbon monoxide feed and the remainder from nickel carbonyl (77—78). The reactions for the synthesis of ethyl acrylate are... 

The stoichiometric and the catalytic reactions occur simultaneously, but the catalytic reaction predominates. The process is started with stoichiometric amounts, but afterward, carbon monoxide, acetylene, and excess alcohol give most of the acrylate ester by the catalytic reaction. The nickel chloride is recovered and recycled to the nickel carbonyl synthesis step. The main by-product is ethyl propionate, which is difficult to separate from ethyl acrylate. However, by proper control of the feeds and reaction conditions, it is possible to keep the ethyl propionate content below 1%. Even so, this is significantly higher than the propionate content of the esters from the propylene oxidation route. 

The reaction is initiated with nickel carbonyl. The feeds are adjusted to give the bulk of the carbonyl from carbon monoxide. The reaction takes place continuously in an agitated reactor with a Hquid recirculation loop. The reaction is mn at about atmospheric pressure and at about 40°C with an acetylene carbon monoxide mole ratio of 1.1 1 in the presence of 20% excess alcohol. The reactor effluent is washed with nickel chloride brine to remove excess alcohol and nickel salts and the brine—alcohol mixture is stripped to recover alcohol for recycle. The stripped brine is again used as extractant, but with a bleed stream returned to the nickel carbonyl conversion unit. The neutralized cmde monomer is purified by a series of continuous, low pressure distillations. 

Reppe s work also resulted in the high pressure route which was estabUshed by BASF at Ludwigshafen in 1956. In this process, acetylene, carbon monoxide, water, and a nickel catalyst react at about 200°C and 13.9 MPa (2016 psi) to give acryUc acid. Safety problems caused by handling of acetylene are alleviated by the use of tetrahydrofuran as an inert solvent. In this process, the catalyst is a mixture of nickel bromide with a cupric bromide promotor. The hquid reactor effluent is degassed and extracted. The acryUc acid is obtained by distillation of the extract and subsequendy esterified to the desked acryhc ester. The BASF process gives acryhc acid, whereas the Rohm and Haas process provides the esters dkecdy. 

Fischer-Tropsch Process. The Hterature on the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide dates back to 1902 when the synthesis of methane from synthesis gas over a nickel catalyst was reported (17). In 1923, F. Fischer and H. Tropsch reported the formation of a mixture of organic compounds they called synthol by reaction of synthesis gas over alkalized iron turnings at 10—15 MPa (99—150 atm) and 400—450°C (18). This mixture contained mostly oxygenated compounds, but also contained a small amount of alkanes and alkenes. Further study of the reaction at 0.7 MPa (6.9 atm) revealed that low pressure favored olefinic and paraffinic hydrocarbons and minimized oxygenates, but at this pressure the reaction rate was very low. Because of their pioneering work on catalytic hydrocarbon synthesis, this class of reactions became known as the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. 

Goal Upgrading via Fischer-Tropsch. The synthesis of methane by the catalytic reduction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen over nickel and cobalt catalysts at atmospheric pressure was reported in 1902 (11). 

Methane. The largest use of methane is for synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Synthesis gas, in turn, is the primary feed for the production of ammonia (qv) and methanol (qv). Synthesis gas is produced by steam reforming of methane over a nickel catalyst. 

Nickel Carbonyl The extremely toxic gas nickel carbonyl can be detected at 0.01 ppb by measuring its chemiluminescent reaction with ozone in the presence of carbon monoxide. The reaction produces excited nickel(II) oxide by a chain process which generates many photons from each pollutant molecule to permit high sensitivity (315). 

The vapometahurgical refining of nickel is based on the reaction of the metal with carbon monoxide to form gaseous nickel tetracarbonyl... 

Ca.rbonylProcess. Cmde nickel also can be refined to very pure nickel by the carbonyl process. The cmde nickel and carbon monoxide (qv) react at ca 100°C to form nickel carbonyl [13463-39-3] Ni(CO)4, which upon further heating to ca 200—300°C, decomposes to nickel metal and carbon monoxide. The process is highly selective because, under the operating conditions of temperature and atmospheric pressure, carbonyls of other elements that are present, eg, iron and cobalt, are not readily formed. 

In the carbonyl process, the Hquid is purified, vaporized, and rapidly heated to ca 300°C which results in the decomposition of the vapor to carbon monoxide and a fine high purity nickel powder of particle sizes <10 fim. This product is useflil for powder metallurgical appHcations (see Metallurgy, powder). Nickel carbonyl can also be decomposed in the presence of nickel powder, upon which the nickel is deposited. This process yields nickel pellets, typically about 0.8 cm dia and of >99.9 wt% purity. 

Nickel [7440-02-0] Ni, recognized as an element as early as 1754 (1), was not isolated until 1820 (2). It was mined from arsenic sulfide mineral deposits (3) and first used in an alloy called German Silver (4). Soon after, nickel was used as an anode in solutions of nickel sulfate [7786-81 A] NiSO, and nickel chloride [7718-54-9] NiCl, to electroplate jewelry. Nickel carbonyl [13463-39-3] Ni(C02)4, was discovered in 1890 (see Carbonyls). This material, distilled as a hquid, decomposes into carbon monoxide and pure nickel powder, a method used in nickel refining (5) (see Nickel and nickel alloys). 

Nickel sulfate also is made by the reaction of black nickel oxide and hot dilute sulfuric acid, or of dilute sulfuric acid and nickel carbonate. The reaction of nickel oxide and sulfuric acid has been studied and a reaction induction temperature of 49°C deterrnined (39). High purity nickel sulfate is made from the reaction of nickel carbonyl, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen in the gas phase at 100°C (40). Another method for the continuous manufacture of nickel sulfate is the gas-phase reaction of nickel carbonyl and nitric acid, recovering the soHd product in sulfuric acid, and continuously removing the soHd nickel sulfate from the acid mixture (41). In this last method, nickel carbonyl and sulfuric acid are fed into a closed-loop reactor. Nickel sulfate and carbon monoxide are produced the CO is thus recycled to form nickel carbonyl. 

Ma.nufa.cture. Nickel carbonyl can be prepared by the direct combination of carbon monoxide and metallic nickel (77). The presence of sulfur, the surface area, and the surface activity of the nickel affect the formation of nickel carbonyl (78). The thermodynamics of formation and reaction are documented (79). Two commercial processes are used for large-scale production (80). An atmospheric method, whereby carbon monoxide is passed over nickel sulfide and freshly reduced nickel metal, is used in the United Kingdom to produce pure nickel carbonyl (81). The second method, used in Canada, involves high pressure CO in the formation of iron and nickel carbonyls the two are separated by distillation (81). Very high pressure CO is required for the formation of cobalt carbonyl and a method has been described where the mixed carbonyls are scmbbed with ammonia or an amine and the cobalt is extracted as the ammine carbonyl (82). A discontinued commercial process in the United States involved the reaction of carbon monoxide with nickel sulfate solution. 

---