Study of liquid–solid catalytic reaction of epichlorohydrin with sodium butyrate in the presence of tetrabutylammonium bromide

The liquid–solid catalytic reaction of epichlorohydrin and sodium butyrate with tetrabutylammonium bromide as a phase transfer catalyst was studied in this paper. The shrinking core model was applied. The analysis of the reaction based on the kinetic model showed a reaction-controlled regime at temperatures varying from 90 to 100°C. The exterior diffusivity was removed between 300 and 400 rpm. The internal diffusivity was removed when the particle size was 2 × 10 –4 m. Reaction rate constants were calculated at different temperatures. The correlation was obtained when the proposed kinetic model was applied to all the experimental data for predictive evaluations and the activation energy was 37.01 kJ mol –1 .