US EPA

1613725 

Journal Article 

Production of isopropyl palmitate in a catalytic distillation column: Experimental studies 

Bhatia, S; Ahmad, AL; Mohamed, AR; Chin, SY 

2006 

Yes 

Chemical Engineering Science
ISSN: 0009-2509 

61 

22 

7436-7447 

10.1016/j.ces.2006.08.039 

WOS:000242240100021 

The fatty acid esters produced using monohydric alcohols
have a wide range of applications in the cosmetic and personal care products. The conventional
method for the production of esters has several drawbacks such as product quality degradation due
to relatively long exposure to heat, necessity of catalyst neutralization and relative high
alcohol demand. The reactive distillation (RD) process for the production of fatty acid esters
overcomes these drawbacks. The production of isopropyl palmitate (IPP) in the RD column is
reported in the present study. The reaction was catalyzed by the zinc acetate supported on silica
gel. A pilot plant RD column of 102 mm diameter with a packing height of 3 m was designed,
fabricated and used for the experimental studies. The process parameters total feed How rate (30
- 100 mol/h), reboiler duty (0.5 - 2.0 kW), pahmitic acid (PA) feed composition (40 - 100 mol%),
PA feed temperature (80 - 120 degrees C), molar ratio of isopropanol feed to PA feed (1 - 2) and
reflux ratio (0.5 - 2.5) were varied during the experimental study. The experimental optimum
values of these parameters obtained were 50 mol/h, 0.64 kW, 100 mol%, 120 degrees C, 2 and 0.5,
respectively within the range of study. The average IPP purity of 86 mol% and PA conversion of
94% were obtained at the optimum operating conditions. The experimental data were used to
validate the theoretical predictions obtained from steady-state model and rate-based model. The
predictions from the rate-based model matched with the experimental results qualitatively and
quantitatively. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 

distillation; catalysis; parameter identification; optimization; reactive distillation; isopropyl palmitate