Esterification of formic acid, acrylic acid and methacrylic acid with cyclohexene in batch and distillation column reactors: ion-exchange resins as catalysts

Abstract

Esterification of formic acid, acrylic acid and methacrylic acid with cyclohexene was carried out in the presence of cation-exchange resins as catalysts. Effect of various parameters, e.g. speed of agitation, catalyst particle size, catalyst loading, types of catalyst, temperature, mole ratio of the reactants, was studied to optimise the reaction conditions. The reaction of formic acid, with different concentrations in aqueous solutions, with cyclohexene was studied. Experiments were carried out in the presence of homogeneous catalyst, p-toluene sulphonic acid (p-TSA), to compare results with the heterogeneous catalyst. A comparison of anhydrous esterification between acrylic acid and that of methacrylic acid with cyclohexene has been reported. The conversion of formic acid in aqueous solutions to cyclohexyl formate, by reaction with cyclohexene, in a distillation column reactor (DCR), packed with an acidic ion-exchange resin catalyst was studied; the effect of variables such as feed flow rate, molar ratio of reactants, amount of catalyst in the reboiler, concentration of formic acid, location of the feed point, etc., was studied. A comparison between the rate of esterification of formic acid with cyclohexene in batch mode and in distillation column reactor has been made. An attempt was also made for the selective esterification of formic acid with cyclohexene from a mixture of formic acid and acetic acid in a DCR.