A comprehensive kinetic investigation of the esterification of nonanoic acid with 1-propanol in the liquid phase was carried out using Amberlyst 15. Kinetic experiments were conducted using a batch reactor system at a stirrer speed of 500 rpm over the temperature range 323.15 -363.15 K. The catalyst loading was varied from 4% (w/v) to 8% (w/v), and acid to alcohol molar ratios of 1:1, 1:5, 1:10, and 1:15 were used. It was found that both external and internal diffusion limitations did not affect the overall reaction rate. The conversion of nonanoic acid increased with increasing temperature and catalyst loading. The Eley-Rideal (E-R) model was tested to correlate the kinetic data, and the activity coefficients were estimated using the UNIFAC model to account for the nonideal thermodynamic behavior of reactants and products. The model predicted the kinetic behavior of the studied system reasonably well. Water was found to be more strongly adsorbed than other species present in the system. The activation energy, preexponential factor, and standard enthalpy for the esterification was estimated to be 55.4 kJ/mol, 2.3 x 10(5) L-2 g(-1) mol(-1) h(-1), and -218.08 J.mol(-1), respectively, by this model. The influence of alcohol carbon chain length was studied, and their effects on reaction kinetics were compared. It was observed that activation energy increases with increases in chain lengths of alcohols.