Optimization of esterification of acrylic acid and ethanol by box-behnken design of response surface methodology

Abstract

A Box-Behnken design has been used to study the esterification of acrylic acid and ethanol with sulfuric acid as a catalyst. Effect of reaction temperature, catalyst concentration and initial molar ratio of reactants has been studied. All the three variables significantly influence the conversion of acrylic acid or yield of the product. Esterification reactions are performed in a batch reactor and the reaction sample is analyzed using gas chromatograph. Using Box-Behnken response surface methodology, a quadratic polynomial response equation is developed for conversion of acrylic acid by multiple regression analysis. Statistical design of experiments is carried out to achieve optimum conditions of the reaction.