Preparation and Catalytic Application of Novel Water Tolerant Solid Acid Catalysts of Zirconium Sulfate/HZSM-5

Esterification of acrylic acid(AA) to produce AA esters has widespread application in the chemical industry. A series of water tolerant solid acid catalysts was prepared, and characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption, TGA-DTA, XPS, and ammonia adsorption FTIR. The effects of Si/Al ratio, zirconium sulfate(ZS) loading on HZSM-5 and calcination temperature on the esterification were investigated. When 20% (mass fraction) ZS is loaded on HZSM-5, the conversion of AA reaches 100%. XRD analysis indicates that ZS is highly dispersed on HZSM-5 because no crystalline structure assigned to ZS is found. Catalytic activity and hydrophobicity of ZS supported on HZSM-5 are higher compared with those of parent ZS or HZSM-5. Results show that this kind of novel catalysts is an efficient water tolerant solid acid catalyst for esterification reactions.