S2O82−/Al–O–MCM-41 catalysts for the esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol: influences of the preparation conditions on catalytic performances

S2O8 2−/Al–O–MCM-41 solid acid catalysts were prepared by the sol–gel method. Their catalytic performances were evaluated by the esterification reaction of acetic acid with n-butanol. The characterization of prepared catalysts was performed by means of XRD, IR, TG-DSC and SEM. The experimental results showed that the S2O8 2−/Al–O–MCM-41 solid acid catalyst exhibited an optimal catalytic performance with ca. 99.00 % esterification efficiency under the optimum synthesis conditions. In addition, it kept its high activity with 93.17 % esterification efficiency even after being used for seven times, which indicated that S2O8 2−/Al–O–MCM-41 solid acid catalyst had excellent reusability.