Hi bees have a look at this reaction swim found in one of her textbooks:
50% NaOH
2HCHO -----------> CH3OH + HCOO-Na+
Plain old formaldehyde can be used to make MeOH (a handy solvent) and sodium formate.
Clean up - Distill off MeOH (bp 65 C). Then distill off all the water. Then acidify with H2SO4 and distill off the formic acid (bp 100.5 C). Any comments?
The H2SO4 could oxidise the formic
Maybe acidify with hydrochloric acid and boil off the azeotrope (which, btw has a higher BP than water or formic acid)?
Exactly, acidify just until neutral with HCl, and distill off the azeotrope (22.5% formic acid, 77.5% water) with a boiling point of 107.1°C (higher than that of formic acid, 100.8° C or water, 100°C). Make sure enough water is present, and collect the 105-110°C fraction.
It's a simple dismutation....
I take it 22% HCOOH can be used in a performic?
I'd suggest distillation of it first to achieve the above mentioned azeotrope. 22% seems a little bit low, but maybe it still would work with good agitation of the reaction.