Abstract
Abstract The esterification of propionic acid and ethanol using waste material as catalyst is emerging and a new technology. In this section a carbon based solid acid catalyst was prepared in laboratory by sulfonating waste rice husk char using concentrated H2SO4 and was compared with a commercial catalyst Dowex 50Wx8-400. Characterization analysis of the catalyst was performed using scaning electron microscope (SEM), EDEX and FTIR. Various reaction parameters such as effect of temperature, effect of the molar ratio of ethanol to propionic acid and effect of catalyst loading were investigated. Reusability of catalyst was also performed 4 cycles for efficiency of prepared catalyst. The activation energy (Ea) of esterification was found to be 39.782 kJ mol−1 using rice husk catalyst and 65.306 kJ mol–1 for Dowex 50wx8-400 catalyst. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to find the optimal operating conditions in order to maximize the ethyl propionate conversion.
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