Cobalt commercial-scale syntheses

The alkalized zinc oxide—chromia process developed by SEHT was tested on a commercial scale between 1982 and 1987 in a renovated high pressure methanol synthesis plant in Italy. This plant produced 15,000 t/yr of methanol containing approximately 30% higher alcohols. A demonstration plant for the lEP copper—cobalt oxide process was built in China with a capacity of 670 t/yr, but other higher alcohol synthesis processes have been tested only at bench or pilot-plant scale (23). 

Prewar Development of Synthesis Operation in Germany. The production of significant quantities of liquid hydrocarbons from synthesis gas over a cobalt catalyst was first reported by Fischer and Tropsch (6) in 1926. In 1932 a catalyst, useful for commercial operations, was described by Fischer and Koch (4), and in 1935 Ruhrchemie built the first full scale synthesis plant, which operated, at atmospheric pressure. In 1936, the process was modified by the work of Fischer and Pichler (5) to operate at. 5 to 15... 

Hydroformylation. In a process also known as the oxo-synthesis, aciyloni-trile reacts with a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, catalyzed by cobalt octacarbonyl, to give j8-cyanopropionaldehyde. This reacts with hydrogen cyanide and ammonia, and then hydrolysis produces glutamic acid on a large commercial scale. 

The FT process is well known and already applied on a large scale [9,10,11,12]. Currently, the two players that operate commercial Fischer-Tropsch plants are Shell and Sasol. In the Sasol and Shell plants gasification of coal and partial oxidation of natural gas, respectively, produce the syngas for the FT synthesis with well-defined compositions. Shell operates the SMDS (Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis) process in Bintulu, Malaysia, which produces heavy waxes with a cobalt catalyst in multi-tubular fixed bed reactors. Sasol in South Afirica uses iron catalysts and operates several types of reactors, of which the slurry bubble column reactor is the most versatile (i.e. applied in the Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate SSPD),... 

The industrial scale procedure probably most important for synthesis of per-fluorocarbon-based solvents was developed during the Manhattan Project [12] (Figure 2.2). In the so-called cobalt trifluoride process (recently commercialized by F2 Chemicals as the Flutec process) [13] the large fluorination enthalpy is harnessed by dividing the reaction into two less exothermic steps. In the first step, CoFj is oxidized with fluorine, at 350 °C, to CoFj. In the second step, the organic... 

---