Fine Chemicals

H₂O₂ can be produced by the autoxidation of hydroquinone to quinone. For commercial units, quinone will be recycled back to the hydrogenation section for reduction to hydroquinone over Pd-catalysts. 

BASF provides Pd catalysts for both commercial fixed bed and slurry bed applications, key advantages are:

• Prevent overhydrogenation leads to degradation products that build up in the recycle.​

• No Pd may be transferred from hydrogenation to oxidation​.

BASF’s Pd Catalyst for fixed bed have high abrasion resistance, good productivity with >5 years catalyst lifetime and can be generated easily.​ 

BASFs Pd catalyst for slurry process has been commercial proven for many years with its high activity and selectivity. 

Our catalysts have been commercially used for the production of alkyl amines.

The high pressure reaction of methanol and excess ammonia at temperature levels of 400 °C leads to the formation of a product mix of monomethylamine (MMA), dimethylamine (DMA) and trimethylamine (TMA). These amines find numerous applications as intermediates in the synthesis of industrial solvents, detergents, crop protection products and feed additives. BASF has developed the N 7066 methylamine catalyst which is based on a silica-doped aluminum oxide phase. 

Prominent features of this catalyst include a star-shaped geometry, a specific surface area exceeding 200 m²/g and a favorable low packing density of only 0.5 g/cm³. On commercial scale, excellent catalyst lifetime, low pressure drop and reduced coke build-up have been confirmed for N 7066. Following figure compares the deactivation behavior of N 7066 to the performance of two competitive methylamine catalysts in a four week accelerated aging test. On average, the highest methanol conversion is observed and maintained for BASF N 7066, routinely exceeding the level of 99% under plant conditions.

As there is frequently a preference towards the synthesis of a certain methylamine the undesired amine species will be recycled back to the reactor resulting in a complex chemical equilibrium situation. Along with the N 7066 catalyst, the BASF offer includes competent technical support to help our customers in selecting optimum process conditions such as temperature, pressure, flow parameters and nitrogen/carbon ratio. This enables the output of the targeted methylamine to be maximized.

C2- C6 amines are being produced in multi-purpose plants in campaigns, predominantly via the reaction of ammonia with the respective alcohol via a Ni or Cu catalyst. BASF has commercial catalyst offer for each application to fulfill the production requirement and achieve long term operation. 

Monochloracetic acid, commonly abbreviated as MCA or MCAA, is one of the most important halogenated derivatives of acetic acid. MCAA can be manufactured by direct chlorination of acetic acid which yields a crude mixture of predominantly monochloroacetic acid with smaller amounts of dichloroacetic acids. BASF provides Pd/C catalyst which can be used for selective hydrogenation of dichloroacetic acids and prevent color formation from aldehydes.

The tailored commercial catalyst can be operated for fixed bed in vapor phase/aerosol phase. Catalyst lifetime is 3-5 years depending on the contamination level and process conditions.