TY - JOUR

T1 - Microchannel reactor for intensifying oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde over Fe-Mo catalyst

AU - Gribovskii, A. G.

AU - Ovchinnikova, E. V.

AU - Vernikovskaya, N. V.

AU - Andreev, D. V.

AU - Chumachenko, V. A.

AU - Makarshin, L. L.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2017/1/15

Y1 - 2017/1/15

N2 - The paper deals with catalytic oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde in a microchannel reactor (MCR) in view of the process intensification. Every channel in the experimental MCR was 1 mm in diameter, 10 mm in height and was filled with an industrial Fe-Mo catalyst ground to a fraction of 0.15–0.25 mm. Methanol concentration in the feed mixture was 6.5 and 12 mol%, oxygen to methanol molar ratio was 1.5, the temperature was in the range 240–360 °C. Safe processing of the reaction in MCR at methanol concentration as high as 12 mol% makes it possible to reach approximately a 10-fold increase in the specific formaldehyde productivity per unit volume of the catalyst even within the explosive range of oxygen-methanol mixtures. Numerical simulation of the process by use of a continuum model revealed its sufficient consistency with the experimental results. It was shown that methanol conversion decreased by ∼12% after operation for 100 h at 300 °C and 12 mol% of methanol. In contrast, at the same conditions but at standard 6.5 mol% of methanol, the decrease in the conversion did not exceed 3%. The use of MCR for highly exothermic reactions has high potential due to extremely high rates of heat and mass transfer, provided that the catalyst used has stable activity of fine particles during on-stream operation.

AB - The paper deals with catalytic oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde in a microchannel reactor (MCR) in view of the process intensification. Every channel in the experimental MCR was 1 mm in diameter, 10 mm in height and was filled with an industrial Fe-Mo catalyst ground to a fraction of 0.15–0.25 mm. Methanol concentration in the feed mixture was 6.5 and 12 mol%, oxygen to methanol molar ratio was 1.5, the temperature was in the range 240–360 °C. Safe processing of the reaction in MCR at methanol concentration as high as 12 mol% makes it possible to reach approximately a 10-fold increase in the specific formaldehyde productivity per unit volume of the catalyst even within the explosive range of oxygen-methanol mixtures. Numerical simulation of the process by use of a continuum model revealed its sufficient consistency with the experimental results. It was shown that methanol conversion decreased by ∼12% after operation for 100 h at 300 °C and 12 mol% of methanol. In contrast, at the same conditions but at standard 6.5 mol% of methanol, the decrease in the conversion did not exceed 3%. The use of MCR for highly exothermic reactions has high potential due to extremely high rates of heat and mass transfer, provided that the catalyst used has stable activity of fine particles during on-stream operation.

KW - Catalyst

KW - Catalytic multichannel reactor

KW - Fe-Mo catalyst

KW - Formaldehyde

KW - Methanol oxidation

KW - Process intensification

KW - ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS

KW - CHEMISTRY

KW - PROCESS INTENSIFICATION

KW - PRODUCE HYDROGEN

KW - FLOW

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84989819502&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2016.09.058

DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2016.09.058

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84989819502

VL - 308

SP - 135

EP - 141

JO - Chemical Engineering Journal

JF - Chemical Engineering Journal

SN - 1385-8947

ER -