GB1037308A - Treatment of gases containing carbon oxides and hydrogen - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaseous mixture containing one or more oxides of carbon and hydrogen is treated to prevent the unwated formation of methane in a plant in which a carbonyl-forming metal contacts the mixture at a carbonyl-forming temperature, for example in the synthesis of methanol from hydrogen and oxides of carbon, by adding to it before it contacts a metal resulting from the decomposition of the metal carbonyl, a quantity of sulphur-containing catalyst poison sufficient to poison the catalytic effect of the metal on the formation of methane. The gaseous mixture used as starting material is either rigorously desulphurized or is produced from rigorously desulphurized starting materials. The sulphur-containing material may be hydrogen sulphide, a thiophene, a mercaptan, a thioether, carbon disulphide or carbon oxysulphide.