Kinetic Study of Aluminum – Alginate Catalyzed Esterification of Lactic Acid with 1-Butanol

Kanungnit Chawong (School of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand)
Chitkamon Poncharee (School of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand)
Boonpradab Daengpradab (School of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand)
Panarat Rattanaphanee (School of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand)

ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering
Vol 17, No 1 (2017)

Aluminum-alginate catalyst prepared from aluminum chloride and inexpensive biopolymer sodium alginate is used in lactic acid esterification with 1-butanol. Effect of initial reactant molar ratio, catalyst loading and reaction temperature on the acid conversion is investigated. Maximum conversion of about 81.2% was achieved after 6 h of reaction at 85°C with initial 1-butanol-to-lactic-acid molar ratio of 5 and catalyst loading of 1%w/v. Experimental kinetic data are correlated by pseudo-homogeneous model using UNIFAC to describe non-ideality of the reaction components. Satisfactory agreement between the experimental and calculated data is achieved. The specific rate and equilibrium constant for this reaction are reported.