Production of Ester by Reactive Distillation of Acid and Alcohol

• Main Author: Shafie, Nuur Syafyka
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2011
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8940/1/2011-Production%20Of%20Ester%20By%20Reactive%20Distillation%20Of%20Acid%20And%20Alcohol.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8940/

Reaction of an acid with a hydroxyl compound forms ester and water as products. Ester is separated from other products by distillation. Reactive distillation is an improvement of conventional distillation by combining the reactive and separation section in one unit. The problems associated with conventional distillation are limited conversion due to equilibrium limitation, formation of azeotropes as well as high cost and energy consumption. The advantages of reactive distillation are cost saving, breaking equilibrium limitation and favor the elimination of azeotropes in the mixture. The aim of this project is to study the feasibility of esterification of acetic acid with ethanol by reactive distillation as well as to study the effect of alcohol to acid ratio and catalyst loading to the purity of ester. In this project, the product ester is continuously separated from the alcohol in volatile phase by fractional distillation while alcohol is recycled back to the reaction flask, thereby shifting the equilibrium to the direction of higher equilibrium conversion of acetic acid. The experiment is conducted both in the presence and absence of sulfuric acid catalyst. The ethanol to acetic acid molar ratio of 2:1 with 1 (% w/w) catalyst loading gives the highest ester purity of77%.