Study on Synthesis of Methyl Laurate by Semicontinuous Esterification of Lauric Acid

The 262-Sulfonate molecular sieve fixed-bed reactor was charged with lauric acid,then methyl alcohol was added continuously,which synthesized methyl laurate.Effects of mass of lauric acid,reaction temperature,flow rate of methanol as well as reaction time on esterification were investigated.The results demonstrated that the optimum conditions were: mass of lauric acid 30 g,reaction temperature at 95 ℃,flow rate of methanol at 0.5 mL/min,reaction time of 60 min.Under the optimum conditions,the esterification rate could reach more than 99%.The catalysts of 262-sulfonated molecular sieves could be reused 20 times with 99% of the esterification rate,which demonstrated the high catalytic performance and stability of catalysts.Compared with the traditional process,it produced high purity methyl laurate without the tedious steps like neutralization,water washing,extraction and so on.