Removal of CO and unsaturated hydrocarbons from gas streams using copper oxalate complexes

摘要

A process for removing CO from a gas stream which comprises contacting the gas stream with a mixture of Cu2O and oxalic acid in an inert organic solvent. The process selectively removes CO from the gas stream and forms a novel cuprous oxalate complex of the formula Cu2(CO)2C2O4. Cu2(CO)C2O4 can be further contacted with a feedstream containing unsaturated hydrocarbon L thereby displacing CO from the oxalate complex, removing L from the feedstream and forming a new complex Cu2(CO)nLmC2O4 where n and m are numbers from 0 to 2.