Abstract-The aim of this study was to apply statistical design of experiments for optimization of esterification reaction and to obtain the kinetics of the reaction. The present system of study was palmitic acid with ethanol using homogeneous catalyst sulphuric acid. The reactions were performed in a batch reactor and the progress of the reaction was monitored using Karl Fischer Titrator. To reduce the number of experiments and in order to achieve optimum conditions of the reaction, statistical design of experiments was carried out. Using Box-Behnken response surface analysis with three factors, three central points and one block, a table was designed with 15 experiments. The variable influencing the rate of reaction are temperature, mole ratio of reactants and catalyst concentration. The conversion is complete at a temperature of 73 o C, initial molar ratio of reactants of 9.39 and at a catalyst concentration of 6.4 wt%. Integral method of analysis was used to analyze the batch reactor data and the order of the reaction was obtained. The reaction rate constants, frequency factor and activation energy of the reaction were determined. I. INTRODUCTIONThe synthesis of carboxylic acid esters is an industrially important operation because of its application in vast areas ranging from domestic use to food industry [1]- [7]. Organic esters can be synthesized by different methods. The most important method is the direct reaction of organic acid with alcohol in the presence of acid catalyst [1]. As esterification reactions are very slow and reversible, it requires several days to reach equilibrium in the absence of catalyst. The acid catalysts include H 2 SO 4 , HCl, HI and some strong organic acids [2]. Generally esterification is carried out in the presence of sulphuric acid as catalyst because of its high acid strength. This acid strength is responsible for the release of H + ions and thereby protonate the caboxilic acid [3].The present work is concentrated on the production of ethyl palmitate, which is an important organic ester produced by the esterification of palmitic acid with ethanol in the presence of sulphuric acid as catalyst. Palmitic acid (A) + ethanol (B) ↔ ethyl palmitate (C)+ water (D)This ethyl palmitate ester has a soft and waxy odour and is used to give fragrance to saffron, cream, vanilla and flavors of milk, fish etc. For the large scale production of ethyl palmitate reaction kinetics should be well determined [2]. Usually rate of reaction is influenced by many factors such temperature of reaction, initial mole ratio of reactants, type of catalyst, catalyst concentration and mechanical agitation rate etc. Among these variables temperature of the reaction mixture, initial mole ratio of reactants and catalyst concentration were chosen and the other two parameters were kept constant for the entire study. Here an attempt is made to correlate the variables with the yield through a statistical design tool and trying to develop kinetics model of palmitic acid esterification reaction. II. MATERIAL AND METHO...

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