Patent ID: 8231855

Claim:
A method for producing sulfur hexafluoride by oxidative fluorination, comprising the steps of: providing a reaction vessel for containment of a catalyst; placing a selected quantity of cobalt trifluoride (CoF 3 ) as the catalyst in said reaction vessel; maintaining a temperature in said reaction vessel at 25-450° C.; attaching said reaction vessel to a source for each of N 2 , SF 4 and F 2 /N 2 by transfer lines; feeding a first stream of F 2 /N 2 and a second stream containing a mixture of N 2 +SF 4 into said reaction vessel by transfer lines; passing said first and second streams through said reaction vessel under a pressure of 1-50 PSIG to produce a flow of SF 6 gas; and passing said flow of SF 6 gas to a collection vessel kept at approximately −78° C. or cooler.