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Kinetics of the Esterification Reaction Between Ethanol and Acetic Acid
Author(s) -
Atalay F. S.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
developments in chemical engineering and mineral processing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 0969-1855
DOI - 10.1002/apj.5500020210
Subject(s) - acetic acid , catalysis , chemistry , ethanol , reaction rate constant , reactive distillation , alcohol , sulfuric acid , reaction rate , chemical kinetics , order of reaction , kinetics , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
The esterification reaction between ethyl alcohol and acetic acid, catalysed by sulfuric acid, has been investigated over a wide range of temperatures and catalyst concentrations. A batch reactor was used to obtain operating data which may be applied to a process of simultaneous distillation with chemical reaction. The experiments were carried out at constant initial ethanol and acetic acid concentrations and the results were evaluated by a differential analysis method. The orders of the forward and reverse reactions were found to be 1 and 2, respectively. Reaction‐rate constants have been related to the reaction temperature for each catalyst concentration, and the frequency factors and the activation energies have been determined. Models representing the effects of temperature and catalyst concentration on the reaction rate constants have also been developed.