Esterification of Acetic Acid with Methanol and Simultaneous Product Isolation by Liquid-Liquid Extraction in a Taylor-Couette Disc Contactor

Isolation of carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous effluents can be achieved by the combination of liquid-phase catalyzed reaction with liquid-liquid extraction. Exemplarily the heterogeneously catalyzed esterification of acetic acid with methanol, accelerated with a cation-exchange resin and simultaneous transfer of the product methyl acetate into the solvent ShellSol T, was successfully performed in a Taylor-Couette disc contactor (TCDC) in batch operation mode. Stable three-phase flow (liquid-liquid-solid) was confirmed in lab scale. The conversion of acetic acid in a TCDC operated in batch mode compares well with conversion in a batch reactor.