Synthesis of Propylene Glycol Methyl Ether Acetate: Reaction Kinetics and Process Simulation Using Heterogeneous Catalyst

Propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA) serves as a crucial solvent in semiconductor and display material processes, demanding high purity and low acidity. Despite its significance, its conventional synthesis method using homogeneous catalysts requires extensive purification. Our study explores the use of Amberlyst-15, a stable solid catalyst, to streamline this process. Through batch reactions with a 1:1 reactant ratio at various temperatures and modeling using an integrated reaction rate equation, we obtained kinetic parameters. These parameters were used to predict the kinetics under different reactant ratios and different catalyst amounts, and the predictions match well with experimental results, especially when we used the catalyst amount scaled by the amount of the limiting reactant (PGME) rather than the total amount of the reactants. This highlights the importance of reporting kinetic parameters with proper scaling for catalyst used. Furthermore, we integrated these parameters into process simulations to determine the length of a plug flow reactor (PFR), constructed a PFR system, and confirmed that the simulation results matched well with experimental data obtained from the PFR system. Our findings suggest Amberlyst-15's potential in simplifying PGMEA synthesis, promising advancements in industrial applications.