Production of Dibutyl Maleate with SO42-/Fe2O3 Solid Acid Catalyst

This paper explores the impact of catalyst dosage, molar ratio of normal butanol to maleic anhydride, reaction temperature and reaction time, etc. on esterification rate in combination with the synthesis of dibutyl maleate with SO42-/Fe2O3 solid super acid catalyst prepared with ferrous sulfate, a by-product to produce titanium dioxide. It turned out that the preferable conditions for the synthesis of dibutyl maleate with SO42-/Fe2O3 solid super acid catalyst are as follows: catalyst dosage accounting for 2.0% of the amount of reactive material, molar ratio of alcohol to acid of 3.5:1, reaction temperature of 120°C and reaction time of 3h. Under the preferable conditions, the esterification rate of normal butanol to maleic anhydride can reach 90% in esterification reaction. The infrared spectroscopy shows that the synthetic dibutyl maleate conforms to the standard diagram.