Oxidation of Methanol using different oxidizing agents for the synthesis of Formic Acid, and its reactor design

Abstract

Formic acid is the simplest, single carbon atom, carboxylic acid. It is widely used in textile industry and leather tanning industry, for its characteristics of giving best finishing of the dye. Due to the low indigenous production of the Formic Acid in Pakistan, a considerable quantity is being imported which causes a burden on the exchequer. Various production routes are currently used for the production of Formic Acid; however, currently used methods have associated problems. Conversion of alcohols to their respective carboxylic acids is precedent in literature, so the oxidation of methanol to formic acid was investigated. To make the reaction energy efficient, Ultraviolet light was used as a source of energy. Commonly used oxidizing agents, including citric acid, potassium dichromate, potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide were tested for the formation of formic acid. High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detector was used for the analysis of the samples. It was observed that except hydrogen peroxide, other oxidizing agents did not give any considerable formation of Formic Acid. Molybdenum oxide was used as a catalyst along with Hydrogen peroxide, to accelerate the dissociation of hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radical and hence increase the rate of reaction under ultraviolet light. Results showed that process provided considerable conversion of Formic Acid with 85% efficiency. Reaction kinetics was established and a batch reactor was designed on Aspen Plus for the synthesis of Formic Acid.