1606. JAEGER, A., AND WINKELMANN, H. [Reduction of Carbon Monoxide Under Ordinary Pressure.] Ges. Abhandl. Kenntnis Kohle, vol. 7, 1925, pp. 55-62; Chem. Abs., vol. 21, 1927, p. 2550.

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Literature Abstracts

Yields of CH₄ and of mixed oxides of C obtained by passing a mixture of 26% of CO and 67% of H₂ over a Ni pumice catalyst are, respectively, 12 and 12% at 220°, 54 and 7% at 245°, and 66 and 6% at 250°. The optimum temperature for CH₄ formation lies in a narrow zone at 250°. A mixed Cu-Ni catalyst yielded only 6% of CH₄; no C₂H₄ could be detected when a Pd catalyst was used. Contrary to the results of French Patent 519,649, no CH₂O is formed when a mixture of CO, HCl, and H₂ is passed over CuCl, Cu, Fe, or Ni at 200°-300°; it is produced in considerable amounts, however, when formic acid vapor mixed with H₂ is passed over metals at lower temperatures, over indifferent substances at higher temperatures, or through an empty glass tube at 700°-750°. CO and steam yield small quantities of formic acid when passed over hydrated SiO₂ at 320°; at 450° in a quartz tube about 1.5% of the CO is converted into CH₂O. This yield decreases with rising temperature and increasing streaming velocities (100 cm.³ per min.), and no CH₂O is formed at all when Cu or Ni pumice catalysts are used or when the steam is replaced by H₂. H₂ free from H₂S or prepared by dehydrogenation of tetralin (tetrahydronaphthalene) does not reduce CO to CH₂O at 400°. CH₂O likewise is not obtained by reducing the compound K₃Fe(CN)₅CO with H₂.