Kinetic model for homogeneously catalyzed halogenation of glycerol

A new kinetic model for the halogenation of polyalcohols (e.g., chlorination of glycerol with gaseous HCl in the presence of homogeneous acid catalysts) was developed. The model is based on a reaction mechanism, which includes esterification and epoxidation steps followed by halogenation steps. The principle of quasi-steady state was applied to the ester and ionic intermediates appearing in the model and rate equations were derived. Furthermore, some simplified cases of the rate equations were considered, such as immediate water removal from the reaction mixture and analytical solutions for the simplified kinetic models were derived. The model was verified against experimental data obtained from laboratory-scale semibatch reactors. The conclusion is that the model worked very well, predicting correctly the glycerol conversion and the product distribution of α-, β-, α,β- and α,γ-chlorinated products. The kinetic model can be used for the design of reactors for homogeneously catalyzed halogenation.