www.cet-journal.com Page 1 Chemical Engineering & Technology Received: March 04, 2019; revised: September 20, 2019; accepted: November 07, 2019 This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the final Version of Record (VOR). This work is currently citable by using the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) given below. The final VoR will be published online in Early View as soon as possible and may be different to this Accepted Article as a result of editing. Readers should obtain the final VoR from the journal website shown below when it is published to ensure accuracy of information. The authors are responsible for the content of this Accepted Article. To be cited as: Chem. Eng. Technol. 10.1002/ceat.201900153 Link to final VoR: https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201900153 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Employing Pervaporation Reactor for Enhanced Esterification of Lactic Acid and Isobutyl Alcohol Vishal S. Chandane 1 , Ajit P. Rathod 2 *, Kailas L. Wasewar 3 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur-440010 (MS), India 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur-440010 (MS), India 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur-440010 (MS), India *Correspondence: Ajit P. Rathod (E-mail: ajitprathod@rediffmail.com), Department of Chemical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur-440010 (MS), India ABSTRACT The present study deals with the intensification of esterification reaction of lactic acid and isobutyl alcohol to produce isobutyl lactate and water. Ex-situ pervaporation membrane reactor was employed to shift the equilibrium towards the formation of isobutyl lactate. Amberlyst 15 was used as a catalyst and PVA-PES hydrophilic membrane was used to remove the water formed during the reaction. The effects of various reaction parameters such as; temperature, molar ratio of acid:alcohol, catalyst loading and ratio of effective membrane area to total reaction volume (S/V) on the esterification reaction were investigated by pervaporation reactor (with PVR) and without pervaporation reactor (without PVR). The results showed an enhancement in lactic acid conversion beyond equilibrium for the reaction with PVR. The partial flux of individual components were evaluated for each reaction parameter which indicated that the membrane was selective towards separation of water and exhibited a good performance. Moreover, the performance of ex- situ PVR was studied which revealed that the water removal rate exceeded the water production rate after 3 hr. The maximum conversion of 92 % was observed for the reaction time of 6 hr. Keywords: Amberlyst 15, Ex-situ Pervaporation, Intensification, Hydrophilic membrane, Lactic Acid, Isobutyl lactate 1. INTRODUCTION Esters of lactic acid are biodegradable, non-toxic and usually have high boiling points. Lactate esters are used as solvents in various pharmaceuticals, food products, flavors and fragrance preparations. Due to its low toxicity and environmental impact, the lactate esters has become an alternative to various toxic and harmful solvents [1]. Esters derived from natural sources are generally extracted from plants which often face the limitations of high process cost, occasional short supply, regional deviation in quality and quantity of flavor [2]. In this scenario, production of esters by a suitable technique have attracted researchers and entrepreneurs. Synthesis of lactate esters by the