A study of butyl acetate synthesis. 4-reaction kinetics

Abstract

This work was aimed at studying liquid-phase acetic acid and butyl alcohol esterification reaction (P atm =0.76 Bar),using an ion exchange resin (Lewatit K-2431) as catalyst. The effect of the absence of internal and external mass transport on catalyst particles was established in the research conditions used here. A set of assays to determine the effect of catalyst load (0.5%, 1%, 2% w/w) temperature (73°C, 80°C, 87°C) and molar ratio (1:2, 1:1, 2:1 acid/alcohol) on reaction rate was carried out and both LHHW and pseudo-homogeneous kinetic expressions were obtained, these being in good agreement with the experimental data.

Keywords

• ion exchange resins
• esterification
• butyl acetate
• kinetics