BACKGROUND: Trioxane (C 3 H 6 O 3 ) is industrially produced from aqueous formaldehyde (HCHO) solutions through catalytic distillation catalyzed by sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ). Optimizing industrial process of the synthesis and developing new catalysts require a reliableCONCLUSIONS: The prediction results uncover that, in addition to its ability to accelerate the reaction, the catalyst H 2 SO 4 has strong abilities to increase the activity of 'real' reactant for trioxane synthesis and to promote the phase separation that is very important for drastically increasing the yield of trioxane, reducing the energy requirement for the trioxane synthesis, and decreasing the formation of the by-product formic acid.
EXPERIMENTAL MaterialsThe reagents and components along with their supplier and purity are shown in Table 1. Aqueous solutions of formaldehyde wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb