Anhydrous formaldehyde by sodium catalysis Original Research Article

Sodium containing catalysts are convenient catalysts for the pure dehydrogenation of methanol to anhydrous formaldehyde. Elemental sodium catalyses the reaction in a homogeneous vapour phase reaction at mild reaction conditions with high yields. The variation of several process parameters revealed the potential of the new way supplying the catalyst. Additional experiments gave insights into the reaction mechanism showing sodium to act as chain carrier in the free radical reaction.