Vol.:(0123456789) Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-020-01788-7 1 3 Glycerol acetylation catalyzed by an acidic styrene‑co‑dimethacrylate resin: experiments and kinetic modeling Juliana A. Carpegiani 1  · William M. Godoy 1  · Daniela H. P. Guimarães 1  · Leandro G. Aguiar 1 Received: 12 March 2020 / Accepted: 1 May 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020 Abstract This work reports an experimental study and a kinetic model for glycerol acetyla- tion. A sulfonated resin of styrene cross-linked with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) was synthesized and applied as a catalyst in the referred reaction. Fur- thermore, the commercial sulfonated styrene–divinylbenzene resin Amberlyst 36® was also tested in the glycerol acetylation and the results were compared to those obtained with the synthesized resin. The reactions were carried out at two diferent temperatures: 80 and 90 °C. The experimental data were collected and compared to predictions of a homogeneous kinetic model of a second-order reaction using the Scilab software. The blank experiments had lower conversions than the catalyzed reaction. The diference found between the ion exchange capacities for PSEGDMA (3.45 mmol g −1 ) and Amberlyst 36 (5.45 mmol g −1 ) did not produce signifcant diferences in the catalysis results. The average R 2 obtained for the model ftting was 0.89733 and the rate constants of the catalyzed portion were found to be in the ranges: 0.01 × 10 –5 –1.30 × 10 –5  L 2  mol −2  min −1 for Amberlyst 36 and 0.01 × 10 –5 – 2.74 × 10 –5 L 2 mol −2  min −1 for PSEGDMA. According to the rate constants obtained herein, it is concluded that PSEGDMA resins has a higher efciency for application in the referred reaction. This conclusion can be verifed by calculating the efciency per catalytic sites, which were 51.78 and 104.24 for Amberlyst 36 and PSEGDMA, respectively. This calculation can be used because it is the same catalyst but sup- ported in diferent structures, proven by calculating the swelling index of the resins, which are shown in the “Results” section. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1114 4-020-01788-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Leandro G. Aguiar leandroaguiar@usp.br Extended author information available on the last page of the article