Studies of a pervaporation reactor: kinetics and equilibrium shift in benzyl alcohol acetylation

This work is centred on the coupling of a pervaporation module to a discont inuous esterification reactor using a commercial GFT membrane and analysing its possible application on an industrial level. The reaction chosen for t he pervaporation study was that of the esterification of benzyl alcohol wit h acetic acid. This study was used to determine the kinetic parameters of t he esterification and the applicability of pervaporation to esterification by determining the membrane permeability and its selectivity under the cond itions of 80 degrees C and a membrane surface area of 170 cm(2). The result s showed a flux of 0.54 kg/m(2)h, 96% selectivity in water and 99% conversi on. A theoretical model was developed that satisfactorily agrees with the o btained experimental results, thus allowing the prediction of the conversio n variation with the pervaporation time. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.