Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Synthesis of Tertiary‐Amyl Methyl Ether Catalyzed by Ion‐Exchange Resin

Synthesis of tertiary‐amyl methyl ether (TAME) was carried out in the temperature range 40–70 ° Cusing a sulfonic acid resin as the catalyst. Thermodynamic data were calculated from the equilibrium concentration of the components in a stirred batch reactor by the Unifac method. The enthalpy change of TAME formation was calculated to be (−20.4 ± 0.8) kJ/mol and the equilibrium constant is expressed as Ka = 3.94 × 10−4 exp (20400/RT). For the kinetic tests, a homogeneous solution system was selected to interpret experimental results. The activation energy of the forward reaction was calculated to be (94.0 ± 1.5) kJ/mol and the rate constant is expressed as k2 = 5.31 × 1011 exp (−94000/RT). The validity of this kinetic model was verified by fitting experimental data.