PROCEDURE FOR THE ESTERIFICATION OF ACETIC ACID WITH ALCOHOLS WHOSE ESTERS OF ACETIC ACID HAVE A BOILING TEMPERATURE HIGHER THAN THAT OF ACETIC ACID

摘要

1. A process for esterifying acetic acid using an alcohol whose acetate has a higher boiling point than acetic acid, in two stages in a vertical reactor with distillative separation of the resultant reaction mixture, the esterification in the first stage being carried out in the presence of finegrained, strongly acidic cation exchanger in a downward or upward stream, the reactor being operated in a flooded state with the aid of a pressure-retention apparatus between the reactor and the distillation column, the reaction mixture leaving the reactor being introduced in liquid form into a distillation column, and the water produced during the esterification being removed azeotropically using an entrainer, characterized in that the esterification in the second stage is carried out in the stripping zone and the bottom of a column at a temperature above 100 degrees C and at a residence time from 40 to 180 minutes without catalyst, the ester formed is removed in liquid form the bottom of the column together with unreacted alcohol and unreacted acetic acid, and, after separation in a downstream column, the educts removed are fed back into a reactor after replenishing the reacted components.