Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of methyl acetate/methanol and methyl acetate/water mixtures on zeolite 5A

Biodiesel production through chemical interesterification of triglycerides requires an excess of methyl acetate that must be recovered once finished the reaction and neutralized the catalyst. Therefore, a purification step of the methyl acetate is needed to remove contaminants such as methanol and water. In this work, the methyl acetate purification by the adsorption on zeolite 5A was selected. In order to obtain the equilibrium and kinetic data, the adsorption of methyl acetate/methanol and methyl acetate/water solutions was carried out in a batch system. In both cases, the equilibrium behavior was shown to fit a Langmuir isotherm. Adsorption temperature of 303.15 K was chosen in order to increase the adsorption capacity with a negligible reduction on adsorption kinetics. Breakthrough curves showed the feasibility of the adsorption in the methyl acetate purification.

► A purification step of the methyl acetate is needed to remove contaminants.
► Adsorption isotherms of methyl acetate mixtures correlated with a Langmuir model.
► Breakthrough curves showed the feasibility of the adsorption on zeolite 5A.