Butyl lactate is a green solvent produced from renewable materials through the reaction of ammonium lactate with n-butanol. It could be a source material for valuable products such as propylene glycol, acrylic acid, its derivatives, and the cyclic monomer of polylactic acid (PLA)—lactate. In this study, we present novel non-catalytic interactions of ammonium lactate and n-butanol carried out in the temperature range of 130–170 °C in a closed system. The study focused on the kinetic modelling of the reaction between ammonium lactate and n-butanol to derive a mathematical model for the reactor unit of butyl lactate synthesis. The aim of this work was to study the kinetics of the interaction between ammonium lactate and n-butanol, as well as to obtain a kinetic model of the process and its parameters. We suggested the chemical transformation routes and determined the kinetic model and parameters that adequately describe the process in a closed system within the studied condition range. The study proposes the first kinetic model that accounts for lactamide formation through two routes. This study showed that the high-temperature non-catalytic interaction of ammonium lactate and n-butanol could be one of the prospective synthesis routes.

The kinetics of butyl lactate production by the interaction of ammonium lactate with n-butanol in the presence of water in the temperature range of 130–170°C in a closed system was studied for the first time as one of the stages of a new integrated technology for the production of lactic acid and polylactide. Also for the first time, a reaction scheme and kinetic model of ammonium lactate esterification with n-butanol were proposed, taking into account the side formation of lactamide and the acid catalysis of esterification by lactic acid. The developed kinetic model can be used for mathematical modeling of a reactor for the synthesis of butyl lactate.