Kinetics and mechanism of esterification of palmitic acid with ethanol in the presence of Brønsted acidic ionic liquids as catalyst

Abstract

The present work is focused on the kinetics and mechanisms of palmitic acid and ethanol esterification reaction using Brønsted acidic ionic liquids (BAILs) as catalysts. The experiments were performed in an isothermal batch reactor and progress of reaction has been monitored by measuring the water content using Karl Fischer Titrator. The experimental data has been investigated by integral method of data analysis to determine the kinetics. The kinetics from the experimental data revealed that the reaction is non-elementary, and a suitable mechanism was proposed. The importance of activity coefficients was also studied using UNIFAC and modified UNIFAC programme.