Potential biofuel additive from renewable sources – Kinetic study of formation of butyl acetate by heterogeneously catalyzed transesterification of ethyl acetate with butanol

Butyl acetate holds great potential as a sustainable biofuel additive. Heterogeneously catalyzed transesterification of biobutanol and bioethylacetate can produce butyl acetate. This route is eco-friendly and offers several advantages over the commonly used Fischer Esterification. The Amberlite IR 120- and Amberlyst 15-catalyzed transesterification is studied in a batch reactor over a range of catalyst loading (6–12 wt.%), alcohol to ester feed ratio (1:3 to 3:1), and temperature (303.15–333.15 K). A butanol mole fraction of 0.2 in the feed is found to be optimum. Amberlite IR 120 promotes faster kinetics under these conditions. The transesterifications studied are slightly exothermic. The moles of solvent sorbed per gram of catalyst decreases (ethanol > butanol > ethyl acetate > butyl acetate) with decrease in solubility parameter. The dual site models, the Langmuir Hinshelwood and Popken models, are the most successful in correlating the kinetics over Amberlite IR 120 and Amberlyst 15, respectively.