Formaldehyde, Formalin 50 wt% to storage

Activity Formaldehyde by methanol oxidation over iron molybdate (Formox type, 20 t/h formalin 50 wt%), RER: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedformaldehyde-1:formaldehyde-formox-iron-molybdate-20-t-h-formalin-50-wt:product:FORMALINPreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset
Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Unallocated foreground LCI of Formaldehyde (Formox, iron molybdate), 20 t/h formalin 50 wt%, case design, derived from the flowsheet by cheme assess lca.

Reference product
1 kilogram of Formaldehyde, Formalin 50 wt% to storage (3 bar(a), 60 degC, 62.245 % H2O (mole))
Chemical
formaldehyde
CAS
50-00-0
Code
formaldehyde-1:formaldehyde-formox-iron-molybdate-20-t-h-formalin-50-wt:product:FORMALIN
Dataset
formaldehyde-formox-iron-molybdate-20-t-h-formalin-50-wt version 0.1.0 · UUID d9a15571-2c4f-51af-a665-57f263ef08f7
Activity UUID
not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348 (version preview-c3ab348)
Process
Formaldehyde by methanol oxidation over iron molybdate (Formox type, 20 t/h formalin 50 wt%)
Geography
RER · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period
2026 · valid until 2031
Technology
metal oxide (iron molybdate) methanol oxidation, off-gas recycle, absorption to 50 wt% formalin, catalytic oxidiser with steam recovery; 20 t/h formalin · level current
Boundary
gate-to-gate foreground of the plant
Production volume
160,000,000 kg/a (product:FORMALIN per hour x operation.hours_per_year (8000 h/a))
Classification
ISIC Rev.4 2011 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model
attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation
mass, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from default)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights
CC-BY-4.0: the ChemE-as-Code process library's own concept design (LICENSE-DATA)

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Formaldehyde, Formalin 50 wt% to storage

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 9 assumed, 5 calculated, 1 estimated. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary5 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.
InputAmountUnitProvenancePedigreeLinked to
Methanol from storage (boundary feed; made by processes/methanol-1)
feed:MEOH
stream S4, 11 474.6 kg/h (D-003, D-004)
From stream S4
0.5737kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Process water (demineralised) to the absorber
feed:PW
stream S9, 3711 kg/h (D-006)
From stream S9
0.1856kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Electric power
feed:POWER
streams Q1 (blower 1609.9 kW) and Q2 (pumps 80 kW ASSUMED) (D-007)
electricity
From streams Q1, Q2
0.0845kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
MP steam export 1500 kPa(a) (hot-oil steam generator and ECS steam generator)
product:STEAM
streams Q3 (reactor, 10 143.7 kW) and Q4 (ECS, 1081.8 kW) (D-007, D-008)
steam, MP, 198.25 degC, 15 bar(a)
From streams Q3, Q4
0.5613kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Cooling water return
product:CW
stream Q5, 13 099.2 kW (D-006)
cold, 25 degC
From stream Q5
0.655kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold, 25 degC from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
Iron molybdate reactor catalyst (R-101)
consumable:femo-catalyst
0.06 kg spent catalyst per t HCHO (BREF LVOC 2017 Table 6.11, NL plant; s. 6.3.5 gives 0.02-0.15 kg/t) x 80 000 t/a. Metal fractions ASSUMED from Fe2(MoO4)3 with excess MoO3 (Mo about 50 wt%, Fe about 10 wt%), to be confirmed
3e-5kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Noble-metal ECS catalyst (R-301)
consumable:ecs-catalyst
0.015 kg per t HCHO (CEFIC figure in BREF LVOC 2017 Table 6.11 note (1); the table's DE value is 0.002 kg/t) x 80 000 t/a; Pt loading ASSUMED 0.2 wt%
7.5e-6kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Oil and filters (heat-transfer oil top-up, lubricants, gas and product filters)
consumable:oil-filters
0.06 kg oil/filters per t HCHO for disposal (BREF LVOC 2017 Table 6.11, NL value) x 80 000 t/a
3e-5kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Disposal: Oil and filters (heat-transfer oil top-up, lubricants, gas and product filters) (incineration of waste oil and filters (BREF s. 6.3.5: reclaimer or incineration))
disposal:consumable.oil-filters
BREF LVOC 2017 s. 6.3.5 and Table 6.11 (disposal)
3e-5kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges

Elementary flows

FlowDirectionCompartmentAmountUnitProvenancePedigree
Methanol
0ebdb68a-f50d-4b0c-ad4b-3a1104d8b454
From stream S13
emissionair6.04e-6kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Carbon monoxide, fossil
ba2f3f82-c93a-47a5-822a-37ec97495275
From stream S13
emissionair5.692e-5kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Carbon dioxide, fossil
349b29d1-3e58-4c66-98b9-9d1a076efd2e
From stream S13
emissionair0.05116kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Dimethyl ether
acfeda73-2eee-4ca2-ad41-e8c564e75cec
From stream S13
emissionair2.302e-5kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Formaldehyde
a861cfae-a310-4e9d-b9eb-5d555c9a684c
From stream S13
emissionair1.811e-6kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Nitrogen oxides
c1b91234-6f24-417b-8309-46111d09c457
emissionair1.197e-5kilogramestimated3 4 3 3 3

The streams are the plant's own flows: an amount here is allocated and per 1 kilogram of Formaldehyde, Formalin 50 wt% to storage, so it differs from the stream's flow, and it can sum several streams.

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/formaldehyde-1/lca/dataset.yaml in library version c3ab348.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review
Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality
DQR 2.33 · PEF-style DQR 2.5
TeR 3 · GeR 3 · TiR 1 · P 3 · C 4 · weakest TeR · primary data 0 %
Mass and carbon closure
Assessed (lca/manifest.json balance, tolerance 5 %: design maturity concept (sourced screening))
  • lci-carbon-origin: not-assessable
  • lci-element-balance: not-assessable
  • lci-mass-balance: closed
  • element balance not assessable: no composition for consumable:femo-catalyst (no composition), disposal:consumable.femo-catalyst (no composition), consumable:ecs-catalyst (no composition), disposal:consumable.ecs-catalyst (no composition), consumable:oil-filters (no composition), disposal:consumable.oil-filters (no composition)
  • carbon balance not assessable: no composition for consumable:femo-catalyst (no composition), disposal:consumable.femo-catalyst (no composition), consumable:ecs-catalyst (no composition), disposal:consumable.ecs-catalyst (no composition), consumable:oil-filters (no composition), disposal:consumable.oil-filters (no composition)
Change report
Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

Not available: no benchmarked KPI for this dataset.

How to use it

Downloads

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348", "formaldehyde-1:formaldehyde-formox-iron-molybdate-20-t-h-formalin-50-wt:product:FORMALIN"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Formaldehyde, Formalin 50 wt% to storage, from Formaldehyde by methanol oxidation over iron molybdate (Formox type, 20 t/h formalin 50 wt%) (dataset formaldehyde-formox-iron-molybdate-20-t-h-formalin-50-wt 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-c3ab348, activity formaldehyde-1:formaldehyde-formox-iron-molybdate-20-t-h-formalin-50-wt:product:FORMALIN. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-c3ab348.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026, in preparation). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}