Chemical Information for Formaldehyde

Chemical Information and Process Technology

Mass Balance on Formaldehyde

2 Methanol + Oxygen à 2 Formaldehyde + 2 Water

To produce 1 tonne (1000kg) of Formaldehyde, using the above equation; raw materials needed are as shown in Table 1:

Table 1: Raw materials for production of Formaldehdye

Raw materials	Amount (kg)
Methanol	1067
Oxygen	533

Calculation

The total equation for Formaldehyde is as follows:

1 mol Methanol + 0.5 mol Oxygen à 1 mol Formaldehyde + 1 mol Water

And the chemical formulas for each are:

CH₃OH + 0.5 O₂ à H₂CO + H₂O

For each 1 mol of Formaldehyde,

 1 mol of Methanol is needed

 0.5 mols of Oxygen is needed

Using the periodic table, the mass for each chemical can be obtained through back-calculation using their respective molecular weight. This is governed by the equation, mol = mass/molecular weight

The molecular mass for each is as follows:

CH₃OH = (12 + 3 + 16 + 1)* 1 = 32

O₂ = (32) * 0.5 = 16

H₂CO = (16 + 12 + 2)* 1 = 30

H₂O = (2 + 16)* 1 = 18