Kinetic Studies for the Esterification of Propionic Acid with 1-Butanol Process with Ionic Resin Catalyst

The reaction of esterification of propionic acid and n-butanol in a simple isothermal three neck batch reactor was carried out to produce n-butyl propionate and water using the solid acid catalyst. Amberlite was used as the solid catalyst (ion change resin catalyst). The reaction mixture temperature was maintained in the range of 363.15–403.15 K. The reactant mole ratio of propionic acid and n-butanol was in the ranges of 1:1–1:4. The catalyst loading was varied from 1 to 3% by weight based on the reaction mixture volume. The effect of reaction temperature, mole ratio of reactant, catalyst loading, catalyst particle size, stirrer speed on the conversion of propionic acid have been investigated. An experimental results show that reaction is kinetically controlled when compared to internal and external mass transfer effects. A second order kinetic rate equation used to correlate the experimental data and found that it is fitted well with experimental data. The forward reaction rate constants and activation energies were determined from the Arrhenius plot. The heat of reaction has calculated by using Van’t Hoff equation.