Process intensification for the ethyl lactate synthesis : integrated pervaporation reactor
Conference Paper
Overview
Research
Additional Document Info
View All
Overview
abstract
Ethyl lactate is an important organic ester, which is biodegradable, produced by renewable resources and can be
used as food additive, perfumery, flavor chemicals, solvent and pharmaceutical preparations[1]. It is a green
solvent and could replace a range of environment-damaging halogenated and toxic solvents (for example:
Nmethylpyrrolidone, toluene)[2]. The conventional way to produce ethyl lactate is the esterification of lactic acid
with ethanol in the presence of an acid catalyst, according to the reaction:
Ethanol + Lactic Acid ¬¾H ®Ethyl Lactate + Water +
The conversion of this reaction is limited by the chemical equilibrium and in order to obtain higher ethyl lactate
yields it is necessary to shift the reaction towards products formation.
