The synthesis of 1,1-diethoxybutane in a liquid phase reaction
of ethanol and butyraldehyde catalyzed by Amberlyst 47 was studied
in a batch reactor. The thermodynamic equilibrium constant
was determined in the temperature range of 293.15 K–323.15 K
and can be expressed as Keq ¼ 7:73 102 exp½1036:80=TðKÞ.
The standard properties of the reaction at 298.15 K are
DH0 ¼8619:96 J mol1, DS0 ¼ 21:28 J mol1 K1 and
DG0 ¼ 2275:33 J mol1. Due to the strong non-ideality of the
liquid reaction mixture, the kinetic model was formulated in terms
of activities. A two-parameter kinetic model based on a Langmuir–
Hinshelwood–Haugen–Watson rate expression was proposed to
describe the experimental kinetic results. The effects of different
parameters such as temperature, catalyst loading, and ethanol to
butyraldehyde initial mole ratio were studied. The model parameters
such as experimental rate constant and adsorption coefficient
of water were determined. The simulation results were in good
agreement with the experimental results and this model can be
used to predict the batch reactor performance for the synthesis
of 1,1-diethoxybutane. These data will be useful for the implementation
of integrated reaction–separation processes such as fixed
bed reactors and simulated moving bed reactors to improve the
conversion to 1,1-diethoxybutane.
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this work was provided by project