Sonochemical Formation of Peracetic Acid in Batch Reactor: Process Intensification and Kinetic Study

The present chapter highlights the kinetic studies for the sonochemical synthesis of peracetic acid (PAA) in a batch reactor. The effect of different operating parameters including acetic acid to hydrogen peroxide molar ratio, temperature, catalyst loading, effect of ultrasound, were studied using Amberlite IR-120H as a catalyst. The deactivation of the Amberlite IR-120H catalyst has also been studied. The experimental data were further utilized for the estimation of intrinsic reaction rate constants and equilibrium constants. From the experimental results; the optimized PAA concentration was observed for 471 mg/cm3 catalyst loading at 40°C with acetic acid to hydrogen peroxide molar ratio equals to 1:1 in the presence of ultrasound. Results also revealed that the reaction rate was found to be significantly enhanced in the presence of ultrasound, which can be attributed to the enhanced mixing and in-situ formation of H2O2. The use of ultrasound drastically reduces the overall reaction time to 60 min, which is very less compared to 30 h as reported for conventional batch reactor utilizing H2O2 only