Abstract
FORMALDEHYDE, which is greatly in demand for disinfection and for the manufucture of artificial resins and synthetic dyes and was at one time chiefly imported into Clreat Britain as a 40 per cent. aqueous so1ution (formolin) at a price which stimulated investigations iWtle psibility of its synthetic pro- duction. Since it is made by the catalytic dehydrogenation of methyl alcohol, usually over a copper contact mass, its price will naturally be dependent on that of wood spirit, and hence on the demand for wood char- coal, unless alternative supplies of the alcohol become available, as is now in fact the case. The falling exports of wood distillation products from the United States of America, and the large natural sources of gaseous hydrocarbons within the Empire, are facts which indicated clearly enough the direction in which research should be undertaken. The Chemistry Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research consequently decided to explore the possibility of the economical production of formaldehyde by the oxidation of hydrocarbons.
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Synthetic Formaldehyde. Nature 120, 820 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120820a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/120820a0