KINETIC STUDIES OF THE

ESTERIFICATION OF PURE AND

DILUTE ACRYLIC ACID WITH 2-
ETHYL HEXANOL CATALYSED BY
AMBERLYST15
Andrés Felipe Duque Amaya.
Universidad de Antioquia.
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
 The untreated water containing AA produce
negative effect to the environment.
 Kinetic studies for the esterification of Acrylic
Acid(AA) and 2-Ethyl Hexanol(2EH) to produce
2-Ethylhexyl Acrylate (2EHA) in a batch system.
 Examine the practicability of the Reactive
Distillation Column (RDC) method to recover
Acrylic acid from waste water.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
 Main esterification  Side Reaction
reaction
𝑘2
𝐴𝐴 + 2𝐸𝐻 2𝐸𝐻𝐴 2𝐴𝐴 𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑟
+𝑊
2
𝑟𝐴𝐴 = −𝑘2 𝑎𝐴𝐴
AA:CH2CHCOOH
2EH: (C2H5)CH2OH
2EHA:CH(C2H5)CH2
W:H20
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The effect of various parameters that affects conversion
and yield during the esterification were studied:
 Agitation speed

 Catalyst particle size

 Temperature

 Catalyst loading

 Initial reactant molar ratio.

 AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, METHODS, HYPOTHESIS
AND MAJOR CONCLUSIONS.

o Hyphotesis:
 Reactive Distillation method is one of the most
promising methods to converted AA from wastewater to
produce 2-Ethylhexyl Acrylate (2EHA).
 It’s expected higher performance in comparison with
other methods used to recover other types of organic
acids (i.e.acetic and fumaric acid).
 THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, METHODS,
HYPOTHESIS AND MAJOR CONCLUSIONS.
o Author Purpose:
 To study the esterification reaction between Acrylic acid
(AA) and 2-ethyl hexanol (2EH) to produce 2-Ethylhexyl
Acrylate (2EHA).
 To investigate the effects of operation parameters over
conversion and yield production.
 To examine the possibility and efficiency of employing
reactive distillation in recovering Acrylic Acid from the
waste water
AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, METHODS, HYPOTHESIS
AND MAJOR CONCLUSIONS.

Experimental Methods Matherial

 Both reactants (2-ethyl

hexanol (99.99%) and
acrylic acid (99.99%)).

 A catalyst (Amberlyst 15).

 Hydroquinone monomethyl
ether (MEHQ) to prevent
polimerization reaction.
 AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, METHODS, HYPOTHESIS
AND MAJOR CONCLUSIONS.

o Major Conclusions:
 The non-ideal Eley-Rideal(ER) model was found as the
best fit model to correlate the experimental kinetic data
and implemented a correction factor for water
inhibition.
 The highest yield (70%) to produce 2-Ethylhexyl
Acrylate (2EHA) was obtained at the temperature of 388
K, initial molar ratio of AA: 2EH of 1:3 and catalyst
loading of 10 wt%.
RESULTS
RESULTS
RESULTS
RESULTS
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARTICLE.
 The title is appropriate and clear:
 It’s related with the content and objective research.
 Represents faithfully the statement of the problem and
save completely relation between author purpose and
what they did.
 I’ts specific enough to describe the contents of the paper
and synthesize in one sentence the keywords, being
appropriate for the intended audience.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARTICLE.
 The abstract is specific and representative of the article.
 Summarizes adequately the purpose, methods, results
and conclusions of the research.
o The introduction announce correctly the topic of
research, provide context including a brief literature
review, state the research question and hypothesis, and
establish clearly the purpose of the investigation.
o Authors were objective in the discussion of the topic.
Their contribution was original, significant and
objectivity.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARTICLE.
 Experimental methods and materials employed to become
observations were explained carefully and adequately.
 The methodology and operation conditions were explained
clearly and the kinetic model validation represents this
appropriate procedure.
 Study design and experimental methods used to become the
purpose research were appropriated.
 The experimental methodology proposed by the authors was
very detailed and could be replicated with the appropriate
materials and chromatography analysis equipment. Only
would lack more information about the PID system to control
temperature.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARTICLE.
 Experimental methods and materials employed to
become observations were explained carefully and
adequately.
 The methodology and operation conditions were
explained clearly and the kinetic model validation
represents this appropriate procedure.
 Study design and experimental methods used to become
the purpose research were appropriated.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARTICLE.
 The nonlinear regression method employed to fit data’s
is adequately for this type of system due the nonlinearity
and dispersion of data’s.

 The experimental methodology proposed by the authors

was very detailed and could be replicated with the
appropriate materials and chromatography analysis
equipment. Only would lack more information about the
PID system to control temperature.
 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
 The reference Peykovaetal. et.al. 2012 should be
eliminated since it’s not related with the topic
indexed.(Activity coefficients using the UNIFAC group
contribution method ).
 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
 Correct equation for the calculus of the equilibrium
constant according with the Komon et.al.2013 report.
 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
 Included the mechanism of reactions for the pseudo-
homogeneous (PH), Eley–Rideal (ER) and Langmuir–
Hinshelwood–Hougen–Watson (LHHW) kinetic models.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
Pseudo-homogeneous
Eley-Rideal mechanism
Model.
𝐴𝐴∗
𝐾𝑎
𝐴𝐴 + 2𝐸𝐻 2𝐸𝐻𝐴 + 𝑊 𝐴𝐴 + 𝑆
2𝐸𝐻 + 𝐴𝐴∗ 2𝐸𝐻𝐴∗ + 𝑊
2𝐸𝐻𝐴∗ 2𝐸𝐻𝐴 + 𝑆
1
𝑟2𝐸𝐻𝐴 = 𝑘𝑓 𝑎𝐴𝐴 𝑎2𝐸𝐻 − 𝑎 𝑎
𝐾𝑎 𝐸𝐻𝐴 𝑤
1
𝑘𝑓 𝑎𝐴𝐴 𝑎2𝐸𝐻 − 𝐾 𝑎𝐸𝐻𝐴 𝑎𝑤
𝑎
𝑟2𝐸𝐻𝐴 =
1 + 𝐾𝐴𝐴 𝑎𝐴𝐴 + 𝐾𝑊 𝑎𝑤
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
LHHW Model LHHW Model
𝑟2𝐸𝐻𝐴
1
𝑘𝑓 𝑎𝐴𝐴 𝑎2𝐸𝐻 − 𝑎 𝑎
𝐾𝑎 𝐸𝐻𝐴 𝑤
=
1 + 𝐾𝐴𝐴 𝑎𝐴𝐴 + 𝐾2𝐸𝐻 𝑎2𝐸𝐻 + 𝐾2𝐸𝐻𝐴 𝑎2𝐸𝐻𝐴 +𝐾𝑊 𝑎𝑤

A:Acrylic acid
B:2EH
C:2EHA
D:Water
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
 Graphs should be represented with different
colors for better reader understanding.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS.
CONCLUSIONS
 The Article is objetive,clear and appropiated for a
particular field of knowledge.(Catalysis)

 It analyses in depth methodology,results and

conclusions.

 Authors explain in depth all steps of the research

being very accurate in their results without
falling into redundancy.
CONCLUSIONS
 The experimental methodology proposed by the
authors was very detailed and could be replicated
with the appropriate materials and
chromatography analysis equipment.
 The discussion of the topic was relevant, realistic
and rigorous.

 The Contribution was original and significant.