Direct Hydration of β‑Caryophyllene

This study of β-caryophyllene hydration to produce β-caryophyllene alcohol was carried out catalyzed by strong acidic cation exchange resin NKC-9. The effects of different parameters such as agitation speed, catalyst type, catalyst loading, mass ratio of the reactants, temperature, and reaction time on the conversion of β-caryophyllene and yield of β-caryophyllene alcohol in a stirred-tank reactor have been investigated to obtain the optimal conditions. Under the optimal conditions (catalyst loading 20%(w/w), n_{β‑caryophyllene}/n_water 1/1, reaction temperature 363.15 K, reaction time 30–40 min), the experiment was then carried out in a pilot-scale stirred tank reactor and in a novel pilot-scale jet reactor respectively to achieve excellent performance. The β-caryophyllene alcohol has been purified by rectifying column and recrystallized. A pseudohomogeneous (PH) model was used to correlate the kinetic data in the temperature range from 333.15 to 363.15 K. The estimated kinetic parameters make the calculated results in excellent agreement with the experimental results.