Maximising the yield of the second order reaction (2-butanol+propionic anhydride) by manipulating the inlet flow rate is considered fur an isothermal semi-batch process. First a procedure for the determination of the kinetic parameters using coupled spectroscopic and calorimetric methods is presented. Then an optimisation of the reaction system is performed numerically and verified experimentally. Constraints on the amount of heat produced and on the temperature attainable in the case of cooling failure are imposed for safety consideration.