Kinetic modeling using temperature as an on-line measurement: Application to the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride, a revisited kinetic model

Highlights: • Thermal characterization of a calorimeter. • Kinetic model using reaction temperature as online observable. • Kinetic model for acetic anhydride hydrolysis taking into account autocatalytic effect. -- Abstract: The use of calorimeter in chemical reaction engineering is a powerful tool to estimate kinetic constants. Indeed, reaction temperature is used as an online analytical signal. Nevertheless, the thermal characterization of the calorimeter must be done to avoid wrong estimation. The hydrolysis of acetic anhydride was used as a reaction model in a handmade calorimeter, because it is a fast and exothermic reaction. Several research groups have studied this reaction without taking into account the autocatalytic effect due to the production of acetic acid. To fill this gap, a kinetic model was developed by taking this phenomenon and in a thermally characterized handmade calorimeter. The estimated kinetic constants in the handmade calorimeter were found to be similar than in the established calorimeter Mettler Toledo RC1.