Esterification of palmitic acid with methanol over template-assisted mesoporous sulfated zirconia solid acid catalyst

The esterification of palmitic acid with methanol was studied over mesoporous sulfated zirconia (SZ) solid acid catalyst, prepared by using CTAB cationic surfactant as a template. The effect of various reaction parameters has been studied. The catalyst showed an excellent activity with 88-90% yield of methyl palmitate at 60 degrees C after 5-7 h. The reaction follows pseudo-first order kinetics under the reaction conditions studied with a reaction rate of 48.67 mmol h(-1) g(-1) and turnover frequency of 6.96 h(-1). It is noteworthy that SZ catalyst showed comparable activity to conventional Bronsted acids namely H2SO4 and p-TSA; as well as it exhibited higher activity than various other heterogeneous catalysts such as zeolites, ion-exchange resins and acid clay. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.