(16a) Kinetics of Propionic Acid/Isoamyl Alcohol Liquid Esterification With Amberlyst 70 Ion Exchange Resin As Catalyst

One of the by-products of the bio-ethanol industry are the fusel oils, wich are principally composed by isoamyl alcohol. To improve the economics of the bio-ethanol industry, this work studied the liquid phase esterification of propionic acid with isoamyl alcohol using Amberlyst 70® strong ion exchange resin as catalyst. Batch isothermal experimentation was performed at different acid to alcohol molar ratios (1:2, 1:1 and 2:1), temperatures (353.15, 373.15 and 393.15 K), and catalyst loadings (8.0, 4.0 and 0.8 wt % of kg cat./kg solution). Esterification kinetics data was regressed to pseudo-homogeneous and heterogeneous reaction models based on mole fraction and NRTL activity compositions. The mathematical regression procedure regress in the same routine all the adjustable parameters for each kinetic model under study, considering in the same time the intra-particle mass transfer limitations by the rigorous calculation of effectiveness factor in each experiemental data point. The concluded models accurately predict the esterification reaction kinetics and can be used in simulation and desing of reactor and reactive distillation processes for the production of isoamyl propionate.