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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 …