Esterification of Acetic Acid with Ethanol Catalysed by an Acidic Ion-Exchange Resin

Authors: Ş. İSMAİL KIRBAŞLAR, Z. BARIŞ BAYKAL, UMUR DRAMUR

Abstract: The esterification of acetic acid with ethyl alcohol catalysed by an acidic ion-exchange resin (Amberlyst-15) was carried out in a batch reactor at temperatures between 323 and 353 K at various starting compositions ranging from stoichiometric regime to the dilute regions. The resultant kinetic model fitted the experimental data well. The activation energy was found to be 104129 kJ.kmol^{-1} for the formation of ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate production was also carried out in a packed bed reactive distillation column operated in batch and continuous modes. The effects of the variables such as the reflux ratio, vapour rate and feed flow rate on ethyl acetate production were studied experimentally. A packed bed reactive distillation column operated in continuous mode gave the highest ethyl acetate composition, far surpassing the chemical equilibrium at operating conditions.

Keywords: Acetic acid, Ethanol

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