Objectives

The aim of this experiment is to determine the order of the saponification reaction taking place in batch reactor with respects to both reactants sodium hydroxide and ethyl acetate using excess reactants methods. In addition, determine the rate constants at different temperatures, and the activation energy. Then compare the experimental values with the literature values. The experimental results will be used to solve the design problem are the rate of reaction, rate constant and the activation energy.

Introduction
The batch reactor is simply a container to hold the contents while they react[1]. Batch reactors are mostly used for small scale operation or for testing new process which is not completely developed. In addition, it's used to manufacture of expensive products also used for processes where it's difficult to convert it to continuous operation. A batch reactor has no inlet or outlet of reactants or products while the reaction is carried out. Some of advantage of batch reactor is the high conversion due to leaving the reactants for long time in the reactor. In the other hand there are some disadvantage such as high labor cost, and the difficulty of large scale production. The design equation for the batch reactor is shown in Equation (1) assuming constant-volume system and no spatial variation (perfectly mixed)[2]. ( )

In this experiment the saponification of ethyl acetate reaction will be studied as shown in Equation 2 [2]. ( ) ( ) ( )

Saponification is a process in which esters in fats are hydrolyzed with sodium or potassium hydroxide to produce a carboxylate anion which can act as a surfactant like soap [3].The solution containing sodium hydroxide and ethyl acetate undergoes a significant decrease in conductivity with time because highly conducting hydroxyl ion is replaced with poorly conducting acetate ion during the reaction [3]. The rate of reaction of a species say species A disappearing per unit time per unit volume[2]. The rate of disappearance of A depends on temperature and composition. It can be and a function is the number of A molecules

expressed for many reaction as the product of a reaction rate constant

of the reactants concentrations as shown in Equation (3) it's called the kinetic expression or rate law. The rate law is determined experimentally and can't be obtained from chemical equation for the reaction. ( )( ( ) ( )

The reaction rate constant

depend strongly on the temperature and independent of the

reactants concentration where it could be found by using Arrhenius equation as shown Equation (4). ( ) Where: A = frequency factor. E = activation energy. R = gas constant. T = absolute temperature K. The activation energy E is the a minimum energy that must be possessed by reacting molecules before the reaction will occur[2].It's can be determined experimentally by running the reaction at several different temperatures. Then take the natural logarithm of Equation(4)[2]: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

The reaction rate dependence on the concentration can be only determined experimentally. The general form is expressed by the following Equation(6)[2]: ( ) The order of a reaction refers to the powers to which the concentrations are raised in the kinetic rate 1aw[2].

In this experiment the order of the reaction will be obtained using excess reactants methods. In addition, the rate constant will be calculated at the different temperature, and from the rate constant values the activation energy is calculated. In order to calculate the conversion, the conductivity of NaOH for each condition will be measured and the concentration of NaOH will be calculated.

References
[1] Levenspiel, O., Chemical Reaction Engineering , John Wiley & Sons, Toronto, 2nd ed.,1972; page (38) . [2] H.Scott Fogler. Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering Fourth Edition, retrieved on 01 June 2013; pages (3,12,69,70) . [3] Pre-Lab Report no.1,Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor(Single CSTR),Summer 2013; pages (1,2)