Influence of kind and concentration of surfactants on properties of emulsion electrolysis of alcohol

2-butanol mas emulsified with several kinds of surfactants and esterified b y indirect electrolysis using a redox couple I+/I- as a mediator. For any k ind of surfactant, relatively large amount of carboxylic acid was by-produc ed besides the ester. The ester yield is affected by kind of surfactant and concentration. When anionic surfactant SDS and nonionic surfactant Triton X were used, ester yield increased regularly with an increase in their conc entration to about three times as much as that obtained without a surfactan t. In contrast, the carboxylic acid yield shows a maximum against surfactan t concentration and maximum values are dependent upon the kind of surfactan t used. The changes in electrolysis behavior with addition of surfactants a re explained roughly in terms of HLB values of the surfactants and change i n the rate-controlling step.