Abstract:
Inversion of sucrose solution was studied in a packed column
with a strongly acidic cation exchange resin as catalyst. The
variables studied were: reaction temperature, feed flow rate, feed
concentration, and resin particle size. The inversion reaction can
be described as a first order irreversible reaction and
experimental results showed that the over-all rate decreases with
increasing particle size of resin and increases with temperature.
Experiment was performed with 20, 30, and 40% sucrose solutions
and it was found that the specific rate constant increases with
concentration of the feed solution.
From the experimental data the values of specific rate
constant, distribution co-efficient and effective diffusivity were
estimated by non-linear regression analysis. Distribution coefficient
for the system was found to be around 1. For 30% sucrose
solution the specific rate constant varied from 0.01148 to 0.73909
min-I in the temperature range of 30 to 70°C. Effective diffusivity
varied. from 3.826 x 10-8 to 18.951 x 10-8 cm2fsec for the above
concentration and range of temperature.
Activation energy and Arrhenius constant for over-all rate and
intrinsic rate were obtained. For intrinsic rate they were 24.93
Kcal fmol and 7.657 x 1015 min-! respectively. For 30% sucrose
solution the limiting value of over-all activation energy varied
from 16.765 to 14.628 Kcal/mol for resin diameter 0.326 to 1.09 mm.
It was found that at high space-time mass transfer rate in the
liquid film was important. This was of the order of 10-5 cm/sec.
