PROCESS FOR FORMALDEHYDE MANUFACTURE

A process for the production of formaldehyde from methanol comprising the steps of: feeding to a reactor a feed stream comprising the methanol and an oxygen-containing gas; reacting the methanol in the gas phase with the oxygen-containing gas in the reactor in the presence of a catalyst comprising oxides of iron and molybdenum; and recovering a formaldehyde reactor outlet stream from the reactor, the formaldehyde reactor outlet stream comprising formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. The catalyst comprises copper in an amount of at least 0.025 wt %, or at least 0.05 wt %, of the catalyst and in that the molar ratio of carbon monoxide to formaldehyde in the formaldehyde reactor outlet stream is at least 5% less than the molar ratio of carbon monoxide to formaldehyde in the formaldehyde reactor outlet stream in the same process using a catalyst containing essentially no copper.