In this work, esterification of acetic acid and methanol to synthesize methyl acetate in a batch stirred reactor is studied in the temperature range of 305.15-333.15 K. Sulfuric acid is used as the homogeneous catalyst with concentrations ranging from 0.0633 mol.L-1 to 0.3268 mol.L-1. The feed molar ratio of acetic acid to methanol is varied from 1: 1 to 1: 4. The influences of temperature, catalyst concentration and reactant concentration on the reaction rate are investigated. A second order kinetic rate equation is used to correlate the experimental data. The forward and backward reaction rate constants and activation energies are determined from the Arrhenius plot. The developed kinetic model is compared with the models in literature. The developed kinetic equation is useful for the simulation of reactive distillation column for the synthesis of methyl acetate. (C) 2014 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.