Experimental study on hydrolysis of methyl acetate using catalytic distillation

Choosing Amberlyst 35wet(cation-exchange resins) as catalyst and total reflux operation,a catalytic distillation column is designed to hydrolysis the methyl acetate.The influence of the factors,such as the feed space velocity,the tow height,the ratio of reflux to feed(volume) and the feed mole ratio of water to methyl acetate on the conversion of methyl acetate are researched in the laboratory.The experimental results show that when the feed space velocity 0.09 min-1,the packing height of the catalyst 80 cm of reaction section and 7 column trays of stripping section,the ratio of reflux to feed 5∶1,and the feed mole ratio of water to methyl acetate 6.5∶1,the conversion of methyl acetate reaches to 83.5%.