Abstract

M. J. Haron, W. M. Z. Wan Yunus, M. A. Sukari and A. B. Salleh*

The behaviour of Amberlyst-15, a strong acidic cation-exchange resin as catalyst for esterification of palmitic acid with methanol, ethanol and propanol in batch reactor was studied in the temperature ranged from 60 to 75°C. The percentage of ester formation was increased as the temperature increases but decreased with the increase of carbon of alchohol. Kinetic study shows that the esterification was a second order reaction. The apparent activation energy for the formation of ethyl palmitate was 32.26 kJ/mol.

Esterification; palmitic acid; amberlyst-15; cationic exchange resin

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