Kinetic Study on Synthesis of Glycerol Triacetate Catalyzed by Zirconium-loaded Sulfuric Acid

Equation of reaction kinetics was established after investigating the esterification kinetics of acetic acid and glycerin by catalysis of zirconium-loaded sulfuric acid.The effects of reaction temperature, amount of catalyst, reaction time and molar ratio of reaction materials were also studied, the activation energy of reaction E was determined as 113.245 kJ/mol in the temperatures from 100 to 130℃.The optimum conditions were obtained:reaction time 10 h, amount of catalyst for the quality of glycerin 5%(ω), molar ratio of glycerin to acetic acid 1:8, under which the yield of glycerol triacetate reached 93.8%.