Isobutyl acetate by reactive distillation. Part II. Kinetic study

Abstract This work deals with the kinetic modeling of the synthesis of isobutyl acetate by liquid-phase esterification of isobutanol with acetic acid, in presence of the heterogeneous catalyst Amberlyst 15. Based upon a statistical experimental design, isothermal batch experiments were performed in the temperature range of 343.15-373.15 K, at three different catalyst loadings, and at different acid to alcohol mole ratios (1:1, 2:1 and 1:2). Preliminary experiments were run to assess the effects of internal and external mass transfer phenomena, and they were ruled out based upon the Weisz − Prater criterion. Thus, further experiments were run at stirring rates of 800 RPM, and catalyst particle diameters under 300 µm to ensure a kinetic regime. Independent experiments were run to obtain the chemical equilibrium constant at different temperatures, and by mean of a van’t Hoff equation, a ΔHR of 16.47 kJ/mol was obtained. Incorporating the equilibrium constant, the kinetic experimental data were regressed with a molar fraction-based pseudo homogeneous model. The obtained model accurately fits experiments and it can be used for further simulation of reactive distillation processes for isobutyl acetate production.