Mittasch, methanol synthesis

A. Mittasch and his staff succeeded in first producing methanol from carbon monoxide and hydrogen in 1913. Iron was used as catalyst. The disadvantage of this process method was the fact that the methanol was recovo ed together with a whole series of other compounds containing oxygen and that the catalysts used for synthesis only had very short cycle times. In 1921, M. Patart described a methanol synthesis process in which hydrogenation active metals and metal oxides were stated to be the catalyst. The first commercial methanol plant, even if on small scale, based on his process was built in France in 1922. 

The rapid rise in the production of methanol as chemical raw material first began in 1923 when the first large-scale synthesis plant was constructed by the Badische Anilin und Sodafabrik, Ludwigshafen (BASF). Based on the woik by Mittasch, M. Pier and his staff proved during test covering several years that iron is scarcely suitable as a catalyst for methanol production. On the contrary, it was established that iron must be carefully avoided in the production of methanol synthesis catalysts as its presence under the operating conditions applied to methanol synthesis leads to the formation of iron penta carbonyl which on its part resulted... 

Mittasch as central one developed Zn0/Cr203 catalysts for methanol synthesis and Cobalt catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. 

In 1920s, the studies on the catalysts for ammonia sjmthesis were performed sporadically in BASF, instead, the company mainly focused on the organic synthesis under high pressm-es and the new fields in heterogeneous catalysis. Dm-ing the development of ammonia synthesis catalysts, researchers provided valuable information about the dm-ability, thermal stability, sensitivity to poisons, and in particular to the concept of promoter. Mittasch smnmarized the roles of various additives as shown in Fig. 1.9. The hypothesis of successful catalyst is multi-component system proposed by Mittasch was confirmed to be very successful. Iron-chromium catalysts for water gas shift reaction, zinc hromium catalystfor methanol synthesis, bismuth iron catalysts for ammonia oxidation and iron/zinc/alkali catalysts for coal hydrogenation were successively developed in BASF laboratories. 

In 1913, methanol was identified by A. Mittasch at the BASF Company [1] as a byproduct in the synthesis of ammonia. Subsequently, in 1923, the first industrial unit went on stream to convert syngas, in the presence of significant amounts... 

In 1923 two German scientists, Franz Fischer (1877-1947) and Hans Tropsch (1889-1935) developed a process whereby coke exposed to steam in the presence of catalysts forms a variety of organic compounds (hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols) depending upon the catalyst and other specific conditions. Around this time, Alwin Mittasch (1869-1953), who developed the catalyst for the Haber-Bosch Process (chapter 1), introduced a related reaction in which carbon monoxide and hydrogen are combined in the presence of chromium oxide and zinc oxide (and similar combinations) to form methanol. The Fischer-Tropsch process played an important role in the synthesis of fuels... 

Mittasch and Schneider. The first patent for the synthesis of methanol was granted in Germany to Mittasch and Schneider in 1913 (1 ). The catalysts which they described were oxides of cerium, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, titanium, and zinc which had been "activated" by incorporating alkalies such as sodium and potassium carbonates. The products were methanol, higher alcohols and saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. Pressures and temperatures were 100-200 atmospheres and 300 to 400 C. These were... 

In the Ludwigshafen Ammonia Laboratory located in Building 35 Pier resumed his high-pressure research, working for a time with Mittasch on the synthesis of ammonia and of methanol. The purpose of the ammonia experiments was to test the effectiveness of different iron catalysts at extremely high pressures, up to 1,000 atm as in the Claude process. Upon... 

Subsequently, patents covering the conversion of synthesis gas to complex mixtures of organic oxygen compoimds, including methanol, were issued to BASF during 1913. This followed work by Mittasch and Schneider. Full-scale production of methanol was not attempted, however, imtil 1923. By that time high-pressure equipment had been in operation for several years in the new ammonia process. The methanol process was developed by Piers and the plant, built at Leima, used mixed zinc oxide-chromic oxide catalyst. The use of metallic iron for the internal parts of the reactor was avoided to prevent the formation of the volatile iron penlacarbonyl. The would have decomposed on the surface of the catalyst, to deposit finely divided iron metal, which in turn would have promoted the exothermic formation of methane. 

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