Kinetics of Esterification of Ethylene Glycol with Acetic Acid Using Cation Exchange Resin Catalyst

The esterification of ethylene glycol with acetic acid was investigated in a batch reactor in presence of a strongly acidic cation exchange resin, seralite SRC-120, as catalyst in the temperature range of 333 to 363 K. The detailed kinetic study was performed to understand the effect of various process variables such as catalyst loading, ethylene glycol to acetic acid mole ratio, and temperature on conversion of reactants and selectivity to products. Further, two different kinetic models, empirical and kinetic model based on Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) approach, were developed to correlate the experimental concentration versus time data. The kinetic parameters of the developed models were then estimated at different temperatures using non-linear regression technique based on modified Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. The calculated results based on the estimated kinetic and equilibrium constants at different temperatures were then compared with the experimental values and LHHW-based model was found to fit the experimental data reasonably better compared to empirical kinetic model. The estimated rate constants at different temperatures of LHHW-based model were then used to estimate the activation energy and frequency factor of the rate constants.