SUBJECT: Saponification of Ethyl Acetate Using a PFR

One of the main waste streams from our facility is an aqueous stream containing about 0.2 wt% ethyl acetate that can flow at up to 10 L/min. In order to dispose of this stream in the municipal wastewater system, we must reduce the concentration of ethyl acetate to less than 0.02 wt% to comply with current standards. It has been proposed that the ethyl acetate be hydrolyzed using a solution of caustic soda in water. In order to enable the choice of an appropriate reactor, you are requested to evaluate the performance of two reactor configurations, PFR and batch, and issue recommendations on reactor designs to treat the waste stream described above based on your observations and economical considerations.

A wall-mounted plug flow reactor is available in Gleeson 104 with some documentation available online. Feed stream concentrations of 0.1N for both NaOH and ethyl acetate should be used and conductivity measurements used to assess concentration. Investigate flow rate ratios to optimize performance. Planning, preparation, and understanding underpinnings are critical.

Ensure that sufficient data is collected to enable good statistical accuracy. Do not underestimate the challenges in using conductivity to measure concentration. Data from a previous team is provided online but it is recommended that at least part of that data be replicated.

Your team is asked to provide:

1. experimental determination of the rate expression at different temperatures using beaker-scale batch experiments and comparison to literature.

2. Arrhenius analysis of the rate data and comparison to literature.

3. prediction and experimental analysis of bench-scale PFR performance.

4. design of a PFR system to treat the waste stream described above.

5. suggestions you have for improving the experiment.