Kinetics of Esterification of Phenylacetic Acid with p-Cresol over H-β Zeolite Catalyst under Microwave Irradiation

Heterogeneous esterification of phenylacetic acid with p-cresol over H-β zeolite was studied without using any solvent. Experiments were designed, conducted, and analyzed to study the effect of two different types of heating on the reaction yield. Primarily, the comparison was made between using the microwave irradiation and conventional heating. Microwave irradiation was found to be superior to conventional heating in terms of yields of ester for short reaction periods. The effects of reaction parameters such as catalyst amount, mole ratio of reactants, reaction time, reaction temperature, and water removal were investigated under microwave heating to optimize ester yield. Conversion of phenylacetic acid was studied at different temperatures, and the kinetics of the reaction was modeled using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) model. The corresponding model parameters were estimated by using nonlinear least-squares method. The reaction parameters thus obtained were used to evolve simulated values of conversion. Experimental values were found to be in very good agreement with the simulated values as evident from regression coefficient value of 0.987.