The esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol was studied in the presence of ion-exchange resin catalysts such as Amberlyst-15 to determine the intrinsic reaction kinetics. The effect of various parameters such as temperature, mole ratio, catalyst loading, and particle size was studied. Kinetic modeling was performed to obtain the parameters related to intrinsic kinetics. Pseudohomogeneous, Eley-Rideal, Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW), and modified LHHW models were developed. The kinetics for the side-reaction etherification was also investigated. The rate expressions would be useful in the simulation studies for reactive distillation. The experimental data generated for the reaction under total reflux were validated successfully using the developed rate equation and estimated values of kinetic parameters.

A simulation-based design method is employed to figure out the promising reactive distillation process configuration for the production of butyl acetate. The intrinsic kinetics developed for the esterification and the unwanted side reaction etherification over the Amberlyst-15 catalyst 1 are utilized to evaluate the steady-state performance of different reactive distillation processes. A steady-state column model is developed and compared with experimental data from the literature. 2,3 With this model, three different column configurations are investigated for the production of butyl acetate with the goal of eliminating the formation of byproduct dibutyl ether and achieving a high purity of the desired product butyl acetate. The following column configurations are explored: (a) a column with a nonreactive rectifying section and a reactive stripping section; (b) a column with a nonreactive rectifying section, a nonreactive stripping section, and a reactive middle section; and (c) a conventional distillation column with a cocurrent pump-around reactor. Configuration c is compared with the side reactor configuration, where the pump-around reactor is coupled to the column in a countercurrent fashion.

The esterification reaction of acetic acid with n-butanol in a continuous catalytic distillation system has been studied. The products of esterification reactionsviz, water and butyl acetates are separated by distillation during the course of the reaction, to overcome the equilibrium limitations. A 3-m-tall column with reactive and nonreactive zones, packed with a commercial catalytic packing (KATAPAK-S) and noncatalytic wire gauze packing, was used for this purpose. For a feed concentration corresponding to that obtained in a one-stage continuously stirred tank reactor at reaction equilibrium, conversion of ∼100% was realized, with selectivity on the order of 99%. Interestingly, in most of the experiments, the bottom stream contained butyl acetate that was almost free of acetic acid. The influence of various operating parameters, such as feed flow rate, feed composition, feed location, and boil-up rate, on the conversion, selectivity, and separation was studied. A dynamic equilibrium stage model was developed and solved to predict the transient and steady-state results. Reasonably good agreement between the experimental and simulation results was realized.