Esterification of 1° and 2° alcohol using an ecofriendly solid acid catalyst comprising 12-tungstosilicic acid and hydrous zirconia

A series of ecofriendly solid acid catalyst was synthesized by supporting 12-tungstosilicicacid onto hydrous zirconia using impregnation method in order to contribute towards clean technology which is the most important need of the society. The support and resulting catalysts were characterized by various spectral, thermal, and physicochemical techniques. The techniques used were chemical stability, ion exchange capacity, DSC, FT-IR, electronic spectra, XRD, particle size distribution and surface area measurement (BET method). Further, the surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The above studies indicate that the keggin structure does not get destructed after supporting. Their catalytic properties were evaluated for the esterification reaction. Esterification of 1 degrees alcohols (n-butanol, iso-butanol) and 2 degrees alcohols (2-butanol, cyclohexanol) was carried out by varying different parameters such as different amount of the catalysts, different mole ratio of acid to alcohol using the synthesized catalysts. It was found that using the present catalysts, very high activity in all esters synthesis can be obtained. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.