Methanol Dehydrogenation to Formaldehyde over Zinc Oxide-Modified Sodium Carbonate

Methanol dehydrogenation to formaldehyde was conducted in a fixed-bed flow reactor under the atmospheric pressure with sodium carbonate modified by metal oxides. The effects of catalyst composition, reaction temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) on the reaction were investigated. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TG and nitrogen adsorption. The results indicated that ZnO/Na 2 CO 3 containing 2wt% ZnO prepared by mechanical grinding method had higher catalytic activity for methanol dehydrogenation to formaldehyde. The conversion of methanol and the selectivity of formaldehyde were respectively 57.62% and 77.84% under the condition of w methanol / w feed =0.19, reaction temperature 650°C and WHSV (methanol) 7h -1 .