Sulfonic Acids Supported on UiO-66 as Heterogeneous Catalysts for the Esterification of Fatty Acids for Biodiesel Production

Zr-MOF (UiO-66) catalysts PTSA/UiO-66 and MSA/UiO-66 bearing supported sulfonic acids (p-toluenesulfonic acid and methanesulfonic acid, respectively) were prepared through a simple impregnation approach. The UiO-66-supported sulfonic acid catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and elemental analysis. The prepared heterogeneous acid catalysts had excellent stability since their crystalline structure was not changed compared with that of the original UiO-66. Zr-MOF MSA/UiO-66 and PTSA/UiO-66 were next successfully used as heterogeneous acid catalysts for the esterification of biomass-derived fatty acids (e.g., palmitic acid, oleic acid) with various alcohols (e.g., methanol, n-butanol). The results demonstrated that both of them had high activity and excellent reusability (more than nine successive cycles) in esterification reactions. Alcohols with higher polarity (e.g., methanol) affected the solid catalyst reusability slightly, while alcohols with moderate or lower polarity (e.g., n-butanol, n-decanol) had no influence. Thus, these developed sulfonic acids-supported metal-organic frameworks (UiO-66) have the potential for use in biodiesel production with excellent reusability.