Phase equilibrium for the esterification reaction of acetic acid plus butan-1-ol at 101.3 kPa

In this work, the thermodynamic behavior of catalytic esterification reaction equilibrium and vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) for the quaternary reactive system acetic acid + butan-1-ol + butyl acetate + water and constituent binary systems acetic acid + butyl acetate, butan-1-ol + butyl acetate, and butan-1-ol + water have been determined at 101.3 kPa, and liquid-liquid equilibria (LLE) of the binary system butan-1-ol + water have also been determined. The esterification reaction rate of the acetic acid and butan-1-ol mixture is very slow. So, in this study, p-toluenesulfonic acid was selected as the catalyst to accelerate the chemical reaction. The measured VLE data were correlated by the NRTL and UNIQUAC activity coefficient models with allowance for association of acetic acid in the vapor phase.