Reaction kinetics of the esterification of acrylic acid with propylene glycol in the presence of solid acid catalyst

In this thesis, the kinetics of esterification of acrylic acid with propylene glycol has been studied in the presence of Amberlyst?15 as a heterogeneous catalyst. It is determined that the reaction rate linearly increases with catalyst loading according to the equation-rA=0,0004+0,0002%(w/w) , mol/L.min.The reaction was carried out in a batch reactor at different temperatures and different reactant mole ratios in the presence of Amberlyst?15 (% 5 (w/w)) as catalyst and phenothiazine (% 0,3 (w/w)) as polymerization inhibitor. The simultaneous dimerization/polymerization of acrylic acid and products, in addition to the reversible esterification reaction, was proposed as the reaction mechanismA + P? T + W2A?dimer2T?dimerKinetic equations corresponding to the reaction mechanism have also been developed. Temperature dependencies of the reaction rates, in the presence of % 5 (w/w) Amberlyst?15 were shown to bek1=exp(22,166-9667/T) , mol/L.mink2=exp(13,834-7797/T) , mol/L.mink3=exp(62,628-24710/T) , mol/L.mink4=exp(30,566-12339/T) , mol/L.minAlso, heat of reaction for esterification was also calculated to be 15,547 kJ/mol.