Kinetics of non-catalytic and ZnL2-catalyzed esterification of lauric acid with ethanol

This work report experimental kinetic data of ethyl esters production from auto-thermal esterification of lauric acid with ethanol and also using zinc laurates (ZnL2) as catalyst. The experiments were performed in a mechanically stirred reactor evaluating the effect of temperature (120-250 °C), ethanol to lauric acid molar ratio (MR) (3:1-9:1) and catalyst amount (2-10 wt%). Chemical equilibrium calculation using a non-ideal mixture approach was applied to perform a thermodynamic analysis of this esterification reaction at the equilibrium conditions. The UNIFAC-LV model was used for the activity coefficient calculations. The results showed that relative high lauric acid conversions can be obtained (around 92% of lauric acids ethyl esters - LAEE) even employing hydrated ethanol. Furthermore, the results showed that the catalyst was able to drive the reaction to the equilibrium in a relative short time (about 100 min).