Ethyl acetate is made from ethanol and Acetic acid, correct? Shouldn't I be able to get ethanol from it by adding something like NaOH or KOH? Would
the result be ethanol and sodium acetate or potassium acetate? I have seen some posts on the web stating that it would result in Ethanol and Acetic
Acid but I'm not sure how that is possible as the K or Na are added to the solution.
Either way, if K/Na acetate or Acetic Acid are a result (plus ethanol obviously) then the only way to separate would be distillation or correct?
Would the ethanol be 200 proof and pure (for reactions)? Bert - 20-5-2016 at 17:51
Just add some HCl and water to it to it and gently heat it.
CH3COOC2H5+H2O ----HCl------> CH3COOH+C2H5OH (hcl is catalyst)
and seperate both from each other
And u r done hoooorrraay!!
If you use sodium hydroxide, it is far, far easier to separate the ethanol from the sodium acetate than it is to try to separate it from acetic acid.S.C. Wack - 21-5-2016 at 12:18
Just curious as to what you searched for to find that? I did a search but probably didn't know the proper terms. I did search for ethyl acetate to
ethanol and got 2 pages but most didn't seem to have anything to do with the conversion, they just were mentioned in the thread.
