Formaldehyde Plant - Continuous Methanol Vaporization System, High Efficiency Oxidation Reactor And 45% Formaldehyde Solution Production

In the formaldehyde plant, imported methanol is continuously pumped from the methanol storage tanks and vaporized in an evaporator by heating steam. The methanol vapor is then mixed in a fixed proportion with air before passing the mixture to a reactor. The methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde when it comes into contact with the hot (molybdenum / ferric oxide) catalyst inside the reactor. The reaction gas then flows to an absorption column where the formaldehyde gas is scrubbed from the gas stream by a counter-current of demineralized water, flowing from the top of the column. The formaldehyde gas dissolves in the demin water, yielding a formaldehyde solution of approximately 45% strength, which is then cooled and pumped to storage. In the resin plant, two stirred reactors are used to make urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin or melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin in a batch process.