An Overview of Methanol

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An Overview of Methanol
Methanol also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol with the chemical formula CH3OH is a colorless substance with the boiling point of 64.7oC and density of 0.7866. It is the simplest alcohol. At room temperature methanol is in liquid state. One of its characteristics is mild alcoholic odour (similar to ethanol – alcohol in drinks), but the pure liquid has no colour. It has low density and is a very mobile liquid. Methanol is a polar compound that is miscible, in all proportions, with water, alcohols, esters, and most other organic solvents. The polarity of methanol is a consequence of the presence of polar hydroxyl group. Relatively small size of organic methyl group allows for significant hydrogen bonding in the...

.....25MPa
3) Low-pressure process 5 – 10MPa
The low pressure process is economically most advantageous because it entails the lowest production costs as well as flexibility in plant size. Higher pressure processes require higher energy inputs and thus are economically and environmentally less acceptable. After ammonia, methanol is quantitatively the largest product from synthesis gas. Commonly used catalysts for the conversion include oxides of zinc, aluminium, chromium, and manganese. Copper oxide is a catalyst of choice for lower temperature/lower pressure conditions. Regardless of the temperature and pressure conditions, the crude alcohol is purified by distillation while
unreacted
gaseous starting materials are recycled back as a feedstock.