Patent ID: 9732025
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: B01D,C07C,Y02P

Claim:
1. A process for an equilibrium-limited reaction of glycol ether (GE) and carboxylic acid (CA) to form a mixture comprising water and glycol ether ester (GEE), where the equilibrium-limited reaction is a reversible reaction having an equilibrium conversion value (X e ) for a predetermined temperature, the process comprising: supplying to a reactive chromatography unit (RCU) GE and CA in a stoichiometric deficit relative to GE, where the RCU includes a sulfonated ion exchange resin that acts as both catalyst for the reaction and media to separate GEE and water and the GE acts as an eluent in both a raffinate and an extract; reacting at the predetermined temperature CA and GE in the presence of the sulfonated ion exchange resin in the RCU to form the mixture comprising GEE and water; and separating the product mixture with the sulfonated ion exchange resin into the raffinate and the extract, where separating the product mixture produces a conversion value for the equilibrium limited reaction that is greater than the equilibrium conversion value for the predetermined temperature.