Investigation of Ethyl Lactate Reactive Distillation Process

In this paper, extensive investigation is carried out for the synthesis of ethyl lactate by super-fine magnetic solid super-acid SO42−/ZrO2−Fe3O4 catalysed reactive distillation for the first time. The feasibility of ethyl lactate synthesis is examined using the reactive distillation lines diagram. The factors investigated include: the effects of the reflux ratio, the ratio of ethanol to lactic acid, lactic acid feeding flux and the position of the feed points. The optimum operating conditions are given. The kinetics of the reversible reaction of ethanol and lactic acid in the presence of super-fine magnetic solid super-acid SO42−/ZrO2−Fe3O4 are experimentally determined. Numerical simulation of the process using ASPEN Plus simulator has also been performed, which agreed with experiments very well.