Optimization of esterification reactions via Taguchi, RSM , and ANN : Kinetic insights in liquid–liquid and liquid–solid systems

Abstract The esterification reaction of propionic acid with butyl alcohol over different catalysts, namely sulphuric acid, seralite‐120, amberlyst‐15, nitric acid, and para‐toluene sulphonic acid (p‐TSA), was conducted in a batch reactor. Experiments performed under different operating conditions, such as reaction temperature 60 to 80°C, catalyst concentration 1%, 3%, and 5% wt./wt., and molar ratio of reactants 1:1, 1:3, and 1:5. All these parameters have been considered in the optimisation of the process, which involves Taguchi analysis, response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN). Based on the experimental designs generated using the Taguchi method (9 sets) and RSM (75 sets), a series of experiments was subsequently conducted, and the obtained results were compared with the predicted data. Kinetics of liquid–liquid and liquid–solid phases were described by pseudo‐homogeneous, Langmuir–Hinshelwood and Eley–Rideal models. The kinetic parameters, like forward and backward rate constants, activation energy, were calculated by solving the non‐linear equation of the rate expression in MATLAB by using the ODE solver and also simulated data applying all three models.