• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.253-261
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• 2015

The kinetics of the transesterification of dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) with diethylene glycol (DEG) was studied in a batch reactor. bis-hydroxyethoxytethyl-terephthalate (BHEET), which is polyester polyol monomer, can be produced by the transesterification reaction. Zinc acetate was used as a catalyst. Previous kinetic studies was carried out in a semi-batch reactor where generated methanol was removed so that reverse reactions were not considered in the kinetic expressions, resulting in inaccuracy of the kinetic model. Mathematical models of a batch reactor for the tranesterification reaction, which took the reverse reaction into account, were developed and used to characterize the reaction kinetics and the composition distribution of the reaction products. More accurate models than previous ones were obtained and found to have a good agreement between model predictions and experimental data. Effect of process variables on the esterification reaction was investigated based on the experimental and simulation results.