Study on reaction distillation coupled process for synthesis of dimethyl adipate

A reaction distillation coupled process was proposed for synthesis of dimethyl adipate using adipic acid and methanol as raw materials, 732-type strong acid cation exchange resin as catalyst. Effects of reaction time, the molar ratio of alcohol to acid,the amount of catalyst and the loading position of catalyst on the synthetic reaction were investigated by the single factor experimental method in which the esterification rate was used as assessment criteria, and the optimum reaction conditions were determined as follows: alcohol/acid molar ratio of 10, reaction time of 3 hours, catalyst being 35 g and loading in the upper zone of the reactor. Under the optimum conditions, the conversion of adipic acid to dimethyl adipate could be up to 85.0%.