Optimization of Formaldehyde Production from Methanol By Utilizing Silver Catalyst Process

Formaldehyde, the target product of the present work, is an organic compound representing the most elementary configuration of the aldehydes. It behaves as a synthesis baseline for many other chemical compounds, including phenol formaldehyde, urea formaldehyde and melamine resin. The aim of the present work is to reach a 98% conversion of methanol by means of taking out the distillation column and replacing it with a higher duty cooler to bring the product to 37 wt. % of formaldehyde. Simulation was carried out for the formaldehyde production process from the methanol using a silver catalyst. Detailed calculations were performed in this report for all equipment and streams in the plant, taking into account the required process conditions to achieve a production capacity of 60000 tons/year of formalin. Plant’s units and operations were simulated by using the chemical simulation software Aspen plus to gain an optimized position of the operation conditions. With a conversion of 98%, the alternative design produces 5481 kilo/hr. Simulation results predict that a much higher net volume for the reactor in order to reach the specified conversion (98%).