Formaldehyde is one of the most important intermediates in today’s chemical industry and mainly produced via the silver or Formox process. In this study, we introduce titania as a new catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of methanol to formaldehyde. Bulk titania catalysts were tested under methanol ODH conditions and the influence of reaction temperature, residence time and feed composition was investigated. The highest formaldehyde yield exhibited in the titania-catalyzed methanol ODH was around 70 % at 600 °C, 1.6 g_Catalyst h mol_Methanol⁻¹ and 2.0 mol_Methanol mol_Oxygen⁻¹. Long-term experiments were performed to get insights on the catalyst stability. While catalyst deactivation was observed at 600 °C (90–60 % methanol conversion after 72 h) and 550 °C (90–85 % methanol conversion after 72 h), methanol conversion (85 %) was stable and no deactivation occurred at 500 °C. Characterization of the used catalysts by nitrogen physisorption, powder X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis revealed deposition of carbon species as the main cause of catalyst deactivation. By alternating reaction and regeneration with oxygen, constant methanol conversions (90 %) and formaldehyde yields (70 %) were achieved at 600 °C.

甲醛是当今化学工业中最重要的中间体之一，主要通过银法或福莫克斯法生产。在这项研究中，我们引入二氧化钛作为甲醇氧化脱氢（ODH）生成甲醛的新型催化剂。在甲醇 ODH 条件下测试本体二氧化钛催化剂，并研究反应温度、停留时间和进料组成的影响。_{在600℃、1.6g催化剂}h mol_甲醇^-1和2.0 mol_甲醇mol_氧^-1时，二氧化钛催化的甲醇ODH中表现出的最高甲醛产率约为70% 。进行了长期实验以深入了解催化剂的稳定性。当催化剂失活时在 600 °C（72 小时后甲醇转化率为 90–60%）和 550 °C（72 小时后甲醇转化率为 90–85%）下观察到甲醇转化率（85%）稳定，并且在 500 °C 时没有发生失活。通过氮物理吸附、粉末 X 射线衍射和热重分析对所用催化剂进行表征，表明碳物质的沉积是催化剂失活的主要原因。通过交替反应和氧气再生，在 600 °C 下实现了恒定的甲醇转化率 (90%) 和甲醛收率 (70%)。