Kinetics and Thermodynamic Study of the Acetylation of Cucumeropsis mannii Seed Shell

: The use of lignocellulosic materials for oil sorption from aqueous medium has directed attention to acetylation as a means of increasing the hydrophobicity of these materials. In this paper, acetylation of Cucumeropsis mannii seed shell, a readily available agricultural waste, was studied. Effects of different acetylation conditions on the extent of acetylation of the seed shell was investigated. The kinetics of the acetylation process was studied using pseudo first order, pseudo second order, and intraparticle diffusion models. The thermodynamics of the acetylation process was also studied. FTIR analysis provided evidence of successful acetylation of the seed shell. The extent of acetylation increased with increase in acetylation duration, temperature and catalyst concentration. Pseudo second order kinetics best described the acetylation process, with minimum extent of acetylation and rate constant values of 0.317 and -0.0148 min -1 , respectively. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the acetylation process was endothermic in nature. The critical extent of acetylation, heat capacity at constant pressure, and change in entropy values were 1.002, 0.162 kJ.mol -1 .K -1 , and 0.020 kJ.mol -1 .K -1 , respectively. The acetylation process was spontaneous at temperatures of 328 K ‒ 348 K, but non-spontaneous at lower temperatures (308 K and 318 K). The critical temperature of acetylation was 419 K, which shows that acetylation of CMSS can easily take place at mild conditions.