Abstract
In most polyesterification reactions, the concentrations of acid, alcohol and catalyst (if present) are expressed in moles per unit mass of the charge, denoted as moles/kg. In this paper, a general kinetic equation that takes water removal into account has been derived. It has been shown that (i) when the progress of reaction is followed by titration of acid, the removal of water affects the concentrations of alcohol and catalyst; and (ii) the ratio of the rate constants that do and do not account for water removal is smaller than unity, and it varies with the degree of reaction. On the other hand, it has been found that the rate constant obtained using moles/kg as the unit of concentration is not a real constant but a function of the charge density. Treating it as a constant may lead to appreciable error or misinterpretation.
Published Version
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