Esterification of acetic acid with isopropanol coupled with pervaporation: Part I: Kinetics and pervaporation studies

Reaction–pervaporation hybrid processes can be an alternative to classical chemical processes to enhance the conversion of equilibrium-limited reactions such as esterification and trans-esterification. In this work, the esterification of acetic acid with isopropanol coupled with pervaporation has been investigated. First, the synthesis and hydrolysis of isopropyl acetate have been studied using the commercial ion exchange resin Amberlyst 15. The influence of different operating parameters such as reaction temperature, initial molar reactant ratio and amount of catalyst has been examined. Additionally, the performance of the commercial polymeric membrane PERVAP® 2201 has been studied. The influence of temperature and feed composition on the permeation characteristics of the membrane was analyzed, whereby preferential water permeation from the quaternary mixture involved in the esterification of acetic acid with isopropanol has been observed under the experimental conditions considered in this work.