Engineering Commons^™

Kinetics Of The Lactic Acid-Butyl Alcohol Esterification Reaction, Joel Howard Kaplan

Dissertations

Kinetic and equilibrium data for the esterification reaction of monomeric lactic acid with normal butanol were determined in a series of experiments utilizing a batch stirred tank reactor. The variables studied were temperature and catalyst concentration. The kinetic data were successfully represented by the integrated equation for a second order reversible reaction.

Rate constants were obtained at three temperature levels and four catalyst levels. The observed rate constants in the catalytic reaction were linearly correlated with catalyst concentration and also satisfied the Arrhenius criterion. The activation energy and frequency factor for the uncatalyzed reaction were determined to be 13,190 calories …

Hydrotropic Extraction Of Hydrocarbon Mixtures, Michael Jay Ram

Dissertations

The solubilities at 25°C of selected aromatics and straight chain alkanes in hydrotropic solutions of sodium xylene sulfonate and sodium cymene sulfonate were studied. The results of this investigation are shown on distribution diagrams relating the solubilities of alkane and aromatic in each phase.

Two methods were investigated to predict the experimentally determined solubilities. The semi-empirical solubility parameter approach resulted in answers that were extremely low. A purely theoretical approach involves the calculation of dispersion forces between molecules. An equation for predicting solubilities has been derived so that it is applicable to four component systems. This method results in values …

A Systematic Evaluation Of Alternate Chemical Routes, Arthur H. Bobis

Dissertations

A systematic method for selecting from among alternative routes for chemical synthesis is developed and presented. Consideration is given not only to making the best decision, but of reaching that decision with a minimum of experiments.

A method is developed whereby the calculated differences in process cost due to variations in the levels of such responses as chemical yield, usage and recovery are displayed graphically. Such a representation by indicating the potential worth of any experiment focuses attention on those parts of the synthesis which have an economic bearing on the ultimate process cost.

The probability of achieving a particular …