PROCESS FOR PREPARING FORMIC ACID BY REACTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE WITH HYDROGEN

摘要

A process is proposed for preparing formic acid by reaction of carbon dioxide (1) with hydrogen (2) in a hydrogenation reactor (I) in the presence of a catalyst containing an element from group 8, 9 or 10 of the Periodic Table, of a tertiary amine containing at least 12 carbon atoms per molecule, and of a polar solvent comprising one or more monoalcohols selected from methanol, ethanol, propanols and butanols, and water, to form formic acid/amine adducts as intermediates, which are subsequently cleaved thermally, with workup of the outputs (3) from the hydrogenation reactor (I) in several process steps, a stream (13) comprising tertiary amine from the workup being used as a selective solvent for the catalyst.