Process for the preparation of formaldehyde

摘要

The process dehydrogenates methanol in the presence of a catalyst based on aluminum oxide, alkali metal aluminate and/or alkaline earth metal aluminate with the exclusion of oxygen at a temperature of 650 DEG to 1050 DEG C. in a reactor whose inner wall is composed entirely or partly of aluminum oxide. The process gives anhydrous formaldehyde which contains only very minor impurities.