Esterification of oleic acid using super solid acid SO_4~(2-)/ZrO_2-CeO_2 as catalyst

The super solid acid SO2-4/ZrO2-CeO2 was prepared and used as catalyst for esterification of oleic acid with methanol in a high pressure and high temperature reactor.The influence of reaction parameters was studied,and the results showed that the esterification ratio was 97.34% at the conditions of volume ratio of methanol to oleic acid 2 ∶1(molar ratio 15 ∶1),reaction temperature 160 ℃,reaction time 4 h,catalyst concentration 8%.The kinetics calculation indicated that the reaction order and activation energy of esterification was 1.42 and 25.25 kJ/mol,respectively.