Abstract:
Formaldehyde can be manufactured through various processes, but most of it is
manufactured using a oxidation of methanol using a silver process. In this process,
reactants i.e., methanol is fed to the vaporizer where it exchanges heat with water,
Heated methanol is then fed to the reactor where it reacts with Oxygen (Air) with steam
injected to avoid deactivation of silver catalyst to form major product (Formaldehyde)
along with some tail gases. Product is then fed to the absorption tower where water is
used as a carrier solvent for methanol and tail gases are removed from the top of the
absorption column. Formaldehyde along with water methanol mixture is fed to
distillation column for the removal of major product on the basis boiling point
difference. Recycled methanol is taken from the top of the column and heated product
formaldehyde (formalin) is taken from the bottom of the column. This product is then
sent to the final equipment of the process which is heat exchanger to cool down the
main product.
