Objective

Determination of Rate Constant for Saponification of ethyl acetate with sodium hydroxide via
conductometry in tabular reactor under pseudo steady state conditions

Abstract

In this experiment we are performing saponification reaction in a tubular reactor and the objective is to
observe the reaction kinetics and the time to time concentration changes in the reaction mixture. To
check the change in concentration we are using conductometer , taking sample from the reactor after
every 3 min and noticing any change in conductivity and temperature. A time reached when
conductivity of mixture showed no change, this is when pseudo steady state is achieved and the
reaction is complete.

Introduction

Saponification is a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium or potassium

hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt, called "soap." The triglycerides are most
often animal fats or vegetable oils. When sodium hydroxide is used, a hard soap is produced.
Using potassium hydroxide results in a soft soap.
Lipids that contain fatty acid ester linkages can undergo hydrolysis. This reaction is catalyzed by
a strong acid or base. Saponification is the alkaline hydrolysis of the fatty acid esters. The
mechanism of saponification is:
1. Nucleophilic attack by the hydroxide
2. Leaving group removal
3. Deprotonation
The chemical reaction between any fat and sodium hydroxide is a saponification reaction.
triglyceride + sodium hydroxide (or potassium hydroxide) → glycerol + 3 soap molecules

Theory
Pseudo Steady State also known as Quasi-Steady State theory is that the concentration of a
species does not change. It reaches an equilibrium after a rapid initial build up.
If molecule is in steady state then that means its concentration is not changing. This means that
the consumption and depletion rate are the same. It is important to note that the molecule does
indeed have a non zero steady state concentration.
Mathematically,
𝑑[𝐴]
=0
𝑑𝑡
This fact can be very useful in simplifying the set of differential equations of a reactive system.
Apparatus

Glasswares (beakers)

Tabular Reactor(CET-MKII)

Chemical reactor service unit

Conductivity meter

REAGENTS

Distilled water

3L standard NaOH solution(0.06M).

3L Standard ethyl Acetate Solution(0.06M).

Calibration solution of conductivity meter.

Precautions

Wear lab coat and latex gloves.

Fragile glass ware should be dealt with care.

Ensure proper working of miniature circuit beaker MCB.

Conductivity meter should be in 19.99mS mode.

Chemicals should be handled with care.

Procedure

We prepared 5L (0.06M) standard solution of NaOH and ethyl acetate.

Then we rinsed feed vessels with distilled water.

Here we poured the NaOH and Ethyl Acetate solutions in feed vessels of tabular reactor.

We adjusted the peristaltic pumps to deliver 86 ml/min flow rate for each reagent.

We noted the conductivity of NaOH in feed vessel.

Then we kept monitoring the conductivity and temperature of the reaction mixture at the outlet of
tabular reactor after every 3 minutes .
We took the reading until (pseudo) steady state was achieved i.e. nearly 45 minutes.

We rinsed the conductivity meter probe.

At the end we washed chemical reactor service unit and reactor with distilled water and drained any
residual water.

We finally tured off all electrical connections.