Dual catalyst bed reactor for methanol oxidation

Abstract

A process and apparatus for oxidizing methanol in a gas stream into formaldehyde in a fixed bed reactor. The process first introduces a gas stream into a fixed bed reactor. The fixed bed reactor contains a catalyst bed having a depth, a width, a length, an inlet, an upstream region, a downstream region and an outlet. Preferably, the inlet, the upstream region, the downstream region and the outlet are provided in the order stated. A vanadia-titania catalyst is provided in the upstream region and a molybdena-titania catalyst is provided in the downstream region. The vanadia-titania catalyst in the upstream region is substantially free of MoO3 and initially (i.e., during oxidation some V2O5 may sublime and migrate to the downstream region) the molybdena-titania catalyst in the downstream region is substantially free of V2O5. Next, the gas stream is contacted with the vanadia-titania catalyst under oxidizing conditions. Then, the gas stream is contacted with a molybdena-titania catalyst under oxidizing conditions which provides a product stream containing formaldehyde at the desired conversion and formaldehyde selectivity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.