Modeling the Synthesis of Peracetic Acid to Produce Maximum Peracetic Acid Concentration Using Optimum Hydrogen Peroxide Concentration
Aminata Diagne Mentor: Emmanuel A. Dada Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction: Peracetic acid (PAA) is a very strong oxidizing agent with wide applications in the food, paper, medical, and textiles process industries, as well as a sanitizing, sterilizing, and cleaning solution used for environmental remediation, water treatment, beverage packaging and as antimicrobial solutions for agricultural purposes [1, 2]. The use of peracetic acid as a disinfectant has become more important as a chemical agent used for the sterilization of medical devices like the re-use of N95 masks and related N95 devices that were originally designed for single use. PAA exists as equilibrium solutions of its constituent’s components raw materials of water, hydrogen peroxide, and acetic acid with commercial grades of concentration of PAA ranging from 0.3 wt % to 40 wt %. The commercial use of peracetic acid and its efficacy depends on the concentration of peracetic acid. Therefore, there is a need for optimum concentration of PAA to be synthesized that will yield high profitability by using minimum amount of hydrogen peroxide concentration. Materials and Methods: We plan to use the available literature data on the equilibrium constants and kinetics rate to determine the optimum synthesis of peracetic acid (PAA) at different concentration of hydrogen peroxide. In addition, develop realistic predictive model to estimate the equilibrium constants for the peracetic acid solutions to be use to estimate the optimum concentration of PAA. From these results and the market base analysis on the cost of raw materials of hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid and the selling price of the PAA product to show that the optimum PAA concentration is very profitable. Results and Discussion: The synthesis and hydrolysis reaction of peracetic acid, which leads to development of a homogenous kinetic model is *+& *,,+ (.) + +! ,! (1)
'! ()" ,+# +!
= *+& *,,,+(*) + +! ,(2)
(1)
The development of a kinetic model can be formed by using the concentration of the synthesis and hydrolysis reaction from the above equation. ,-$ ,. ,-% ,.
= 3!/01 *- *2 − 3%/01 *3 *4
(2)
= 3%/01 *3 *4 − 3!/01 *- *2
(3)
Keq = k1obs/k2obs
(4)
Where 3%/01 and 3!/01 are observed rate constant for both forward and reverse reactions and are also the function of H+ concentration due to the acid-catalyzed reactions of the reversed reactions [1]. Equations (2) and (3) further show that peracetic acid is first order with respect to acetic acid concentration, hydrogen peroxide concentration, and acid concentration by the reaction of hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid. We are currently developing an empirical method to predict the Keq, equilibrium constant that will be used to optimize the concentration of hydrogen peroxide that will give maximum peracetic acid (PAA) product. Conclusion: Available literature data on the equilibrium constants and kinetics rate to determine the optimum synthesis of peracetic acid (PAA) at different concentration of hydrogen peroxide have been analyzed. The data will be used to develop realistic predictive model to estimate the equilibrium constants for the peracetic acid solutions to be used to estimate the optimum concentration of PAA. References: 1. European Center for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC); “Peracetic Acid (CAS No 79-21-0) and its Equilibrium Solutions (2001) JACC No 40. Page 151 of 3
