Kinetics studies on transesterification between ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and butyl acetate to ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate

In this study, Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate (EBAC) was synthesized via the transesterification between ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EB) and butyl acetate (BAC) with Amberlyst 15 resin adopted as the catalyst. The influences of ether-ester molar ratio (1:1–1:4), reaction temperature (333.15–373.15 K) and catalyst dosage (2–10 wt%) on the reaction were investigated through experiments. On the basis of kinetic experimental data, the pseudo-homogeneous (P–H) model and Langmuir–Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) model were constructed and compared. The LHHW model delivered superior fitting performance, with the maximum root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) reaching 0.0118. Fixed-bed reactor simulation was carried out by means of COMSOL Multiphysics software, and the simulation outcomes were verified against experimental results. The average errors of molar fractions for EB and EBAC at the reactor outlet were 0.0331 and 0.0224, which verifies the reliability of the kinetic model. Meanwhile, combined with relevant experiments and characterization results, it is confirmed that the selected catalyst possesses excellent structural stability and recycling potential. On this foundation, a conceptual-design scheme for the continuous reaction-separation process was put forward to separate the azeotrope composed of BAC and n -butanol (BUOH) generated in the transesterification reaction. This research provides new insights and a theoretical foundation for the exploitation of transesterification-based processes for EBAC manufacture.