Synthesis of Ethyl Acetate by Coupling a Heterogeneous Catalytic System with a Pervaporation Unit

Abstract

The synthesis of ethyl acetate was investigated using a heterogeneous catalyst and a pervaporation unit. Shifting the reaction equilibrium by selective water removal increased the ethyl acetate productivity. Commercial acid resin, Amberlyst 15 (Rohm and Haas), and commercial hydrophilic composite membrane, PERVAP 1000 and 1001 (Le Carbone Lorraine), were used. The effects of catalyst mass, reaction temperature, and initial reactants ratio were studied. The kinetic parameters, such as activation energy and apparent reaction order, were determined. The water production and removal rates obtained in reaction and pervaporation experiments, respectively, were used in a computational code to simulate the behavior of the coupled system. The highest conversion was observed when an initial ethanol/acetic acid molar ratio of 9:1 was used. At this condition, the water production was reduced turning the water removal process more selective, increasing the acetic acid conversion from 51.0% to 63.9%.