Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.45, No.14, 5155-5164, 2006
Phase equilibrium in formaldehyde containing multicomponent mixtures: Experimental results for fluid phase equilibria of (formaldehyde plus (water or methanol) plus methylal)) and (formaldehyde plus water plus methanol plus methylal) and comparison with predictions
Methylal (also known as dimethoxymethane and formaldehyde dimethyl acetal) is a side product of the production of polyacetal plastics from formaldehyde, which has to be removed in downstream processing. The design of the separation equipment requires a verified model for the vapor-liquid-phase equilibrium. New experimental results are presented for the vapor-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibrium of the ternary system (formaldehyde + water + methylal) and for the vapor-liquid equilibrium of the ternary system (formaldehyde + methanol + methylal) and of the quaternary system (formaldehyde + water + methanol + methylal). New experimental results and the literature data are compared with prediction results.