Reaction kinetic models for heterogeneous solid catalyzed esterification of decanoic acid with ethanol

In this paper, the esterification reaction of decanoic acid with ethanol in the presence of solid catalyst Amberlyst 15 has been studied. Furthermore, a small batch reactor is used to synthesize ethyl decanoate in the laboratory performed at the optimal condition of 1:7 molar ratio, 9 wt% catalyst loading and 348 K temperature. The result shows that Amberlyst 15 catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity in this esterification reaction and can be reused several times after washing with methanol. The fresh and reused catalyst structures were compared using FTIR, SEM, TGA and DSC techniques to study catalytic stability behavior. To derive the reaction rate and reaction kinetic model, appropriate activities instead of concentration were measured using the UNIFAC group contribution method. Moreover, the effect of various initial activities of decanoic acid, ethanol and water were investigated on reaction rate and various adsorption coefficient values were calculated. It was found that the reaction kinetics of this reaction followed the Eley–Rideal mechanism.