Enhanced Catalytic Activity of Nano-Fe2O3–MCM-48–SO4 as a Green Catalyst for the Esterification of Acetic Acid with Methanol

Coupling of sulphated iron oxide with MCM-48 was carried out to prepare an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the esterification reaction of acetic acid with methanol to produce methyl acetate as desired product. The prepared catalyst has shown a remarkable acid conversion of about 90% under optimized reaction conditions, which has resulted in an approximate 71% enhancement in catalyst activity using Fe2O3–MCM-48–SO4 catalyst over bare MCM-48. The effect of various reaction parameters like calcination temperature and time, amount of metal oxide and active species, catalyst loading and reaction temperature were also studied to optimize the catalytic activity of Fe2O3–MCM-48–SO4. The prepared catalyst was characterized using SEM–EDS, FT-IR, XRD and BET techniques. In addition, a detailed kinetics of esterification reaction has been carried out and a possible reaction pathway is also proposed.