Kinetics of homogeneous catalytic chlorination of acetic acid

The kinetics of the chlorination of acetic acid (HAc) to monochloroacetic acid (MCA) and the physical solubility of chlorine in HAc and its mixtures with MCA were investigated in a laboratory scale semibatch reactor. The temperature dependence of the Henry's constant was determined from solubility data obtained at temperatures between 70°C and 110°C. The kinetic experiments were performed at 75–100°C with 3–13 mol % acetyl chloride (AcCl) and 0–5 weight % H2SO4 added as catalysts. Gas chromatography was used to determine the concentrations of HAc, MCA, dichloroacetic acid and AcCl during the experiments. The results indicate that the reaction rate is independent of the concentrations of HAc…