Study On Methyl Formate From Carbonylation Of Methanol

Base-catalysted methanol carbornylation represents an established, state-of-the-art commercial technology. In this paper, the catalytic system sodium methoxide (MeONa) used for methanol carbonylation to methyl formate is studied, the optimum process conditions have been worked out and the dynamics of methanol carbonylation is reviewed. The effect of reaction pressure and temperature, the content of catalyst and the promoter has been investigated. The experiment results show that at temperature of 80C CO pressure of 3.8MPa the MeONa concentration of 0.4moIIL the promoter (pyridine) concentration of 2mol/L, the conversion of CO and methanol are 95.58% and 42.95% respectively. The space-time yield (STY) of methyl formate is 320 g.EAh?Under the most average yielding intension, the best time is 85 minutes.The results also show that the general reaction equation is: -dPc0/dt=k .[Catj co .[MeOJI]. Within all experiment confine, the rate of CO is one progression and the activation energy is 67.63 lcJ/mol. In the meantime , It is demonstrated that the reaction could be accelerated when Pyridine is used as promoter of MeONa catalysts and decreasing activation energy is the essence of promoter.