Macrokinetics for synthesis of cyclohexyl acetate by esterification of cyclohexene and acetic acid

Cyclohexyl acetate was synthesized by the addition esterification of cyclohexene and acetic acid using sulfonic acid type styrene cation exchange resin (D006) catalyst. The adsorption equilibriums of two binary systems, namely cyclohexene-acetic acid and cyclohexyl acetate-acetic acid were investigated, and the macrokinetics of the esterification reaction were studied, in which the influence of the external diffusion was eliminated. The experimental data for the esterification macrokinetics were determined under the conditions of stirring speed of 600 r/min, temperature of 343.15-363.15 K and catalyst dosage of 5%-15%(w). A LHHW macrokinetics model was established and the model parameters were regressed with the experimental data. The results showed that the pre-exponential factor and the activation energy of the esterification reaction were 5.33×10⁹ L²/(mol·g·min) and 93.06 kJ/mol, respectively. The esterification reaction is exothermal reaction and the standard reaction enthalpy is-40.51 kJ/mol. Furthermore, the statistical test indicated that the macrokinetics model was reliable.