Investigation of reversible chemical reactions in compressed CO2 on the basis of production of methyl acetate

Esterification of acetic acid with methanol with and without heterogeneous catalyst was carried out in compressed carbon dioxide. In the first part of this project the autocatalytic effect of the compressed CO2 on this equilibrium reaction was investigated. The use of high-pressure carbon dioxide, an environmentally benign solvent, will shift the yield towards the desired product methyl acetate. The influence of temperature, pressure and water content of the feed composition on the reaction yield was studied. Temperature of operation was varied between 298.15 K to 328.15 K. The pressure of operation was up to 10 MPa. Yield of esterification without catalyst was 6%. Catalytic esterification was investigated with Amberlite IR-120, a strongly acidic ion exchanger. The yield of reaction differed significantly from esterification without catalyst.