Methanol synthesis high pressure process

Methanol synthesis (high pressure process) Zn, Cr oxide... 

High pressure processes P > 150 atm) are catalyzed by copper chromite catalysts. The most widely used process, however, is the low pressure methanol process that is conducted at 503—523 K, 5—10 MPa (50—100 atm), space velocities of 20, 000-60,000 h , and H2-to-CO ratios of 3. The reaction is catalyzed by a copper—zinc oxide catalyst using promoters such as alumina (31,32). This catalyst is more easily poisoned than the older copper chromite catalysts and requites the use of sulfiir-free synthesis gas. 

Methanol Synthesis. Methanol has been manufactured on an industrial scale by the cataly2ed reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen since 1924. The high pressure processes, which utili2e 2inc oxide—chromium oxide catalysts, are operated above 20 MPa (200 atm) and temperatures of 300—400°C. The catalyst contains approximately 72 wt % 2inc oxide, 22 wt % chromium (II) oxide, 1 wt % carbon, and 0.1 wt % chromium (VI) the balance is materials lost on heating. 

An industrial process to produce methanol from carbon monoxide and hydrogen was developed by BASF in 1923 using a zinc oxide-chromia catalyst.361 362 Since this catalyst exhibited relatively low specific activity, high temperature was required. The low equilibrium methanol concentration at this high temperature was compensated by using high pressures. This so-called high-pressure process was operated typically at 200 atm and 350°C. The development of the process and early results on methanol synthesis were reviewed by Natta 363... 

In the presence of catalysts such as are used for the synthesis of methanol from mixtures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and which have been promoted by the addition of an alkali oxide, ethanol may be dehydrated to form butanol in a high pressure process. Catalyst mixtures composed of chromium and zinc oxides to which either barium hydroxide or potassium oxide has been added have been specified.6 ... 

The oxidation of dimethyl ether, a process developed hy the Japanese company Akita Petrochemicals, is similar to the foregoing techniques. It is based on the oxidation of dimethyl ether, which is a by-product of methanol synthesis in the high-pressure processes ... 

Methanol synthesis by the high-pressure process CO/H2, 350-400 °C, 200-300 bar, Zn/Cr oxide catalyst, quench reactor. 

Methanol synthesis replacement of high-pressure processes by medium- and low-pressure processes... 

Originally, industrial synthesis of methanol was over a zinc oxide-chromium oxide catalyst that was operated at a nominal pressure of about 35 MPa (350 atm) and temperatures up to about 450°C. This catalyst unfortunately had a tendency to promote the exothermic methanation reaction (CO + 3H2 CH4 + h20) under certain conditions, which led in some instances to severely overheated reactors. This characteristic plus the high cost of compression and relative nonselectivity of the high-pressure process made it uneconomical following the introduction of low-pressure synthesis in the 1960s. 

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). 

Even though form amide was synthesized as early as 1863 by W. A. Hoffmann from ethyl formate [109-94-4] and ammonia, it only became accessible on a large scale, and thus iadustrially important, after development of high pressure production technology. In the 1990s, form amide is mainly manufactured either by direct synthesis from carbon monoxide and ammonia, or more importandy ia a two-stage process by reaction of methyl formate (from carbon monoxide and methanol) with ammonia. 

Thermal chlorination of methane was first put on an industrial scale by Hoechst in Germany in 1923. At that time, high pressure methanol synthesis from hydrogen and carbon monoxide provided a new source of methanol for production of methyl chloride by reaction with hydrogen chloride. Prior to 1914 attempts were made to estabHsh an industrial process for methanol by hydrolysis of methyl chloride obtained by chlorinating methane. 

Higher molecular primary unbranched or low-branched alcohols are used not only for the synthesis of nonionic but also of anionic surfactants, like fatty alcohol sulfates or ether sulfates. These alcohols are produced by catalytic high-pressure hydrogenation of the methyl esters of fatty acids, obtained by a transesterification reaction of fats or fatty oils with methanol or by different procedures, like hydroformylation or the Alfol process, starting from petroleum chemical raw materials. 

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