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Industrially widely applied esterification reactions are commonly catalysed using mineral liquid acids, such as sulphuric acid and p-toluenesulphonic acid. The catalytic activity of homogeneous catalysts is high. They suffer, however, from several drawbacks, such as their corrosive nature, the existence of side reactions, and the fact that the catalyst cannot be easily separated from the reaction mixture. The use of solid acid catalysts offers an alternative and has received a lot of attention in the past years. Solid acid catalysts are not corrosive and, coated onto a support, they can be easily reused. Examples of solid acid catalysts used in esterification reactions include ion-exchange resins, zeolites and superacids like sulphated zirconia and niobium acid. Ion-exchange resins are the most common heterogeneous catalysts used and have proven to be effective in liquid phase esterification and etherification reactions. Because of their selective adsorption of reactants and swelling nature, these resins not only catalyse the esterification reaction but also affect the equilibrium conversion. Shortcomings include insufficient thermal resistance, which limits the reaction temperature to `120^(@)C`, preventing widespread use in industry. Zeolites, like Y, X, BEA, ZSM-5 and MCM 41 offer an interesting alternative and have proven to be efficient catalysts for esterification reactions. Zeolites have found wide application in oil refining, petrochemistry and in the production of fine chemicals. Their success is based on the possibility to prepare zeolites with strong Brønsted acidity that can be controlled within a certain range, combined with a good resistance to high reaction temperatures.
In this study, the activity of various commercial available solid acid catalysts is assessed with respect to the esterification of acetic acid with butanol. The ion-exchange resins Amberlyst 15 and Smopex-101, the acid zeolites H-ZSM-5, H-MOR, H-BETA and H-USY, and the solid superacids sulphated zirconia and niobium acid are selected. Comparative esterification experiments have been carried out using the homogeneous catalysts sulphuric acid, p toluenesulphuric acid and a heteropolyacid (HPA). The weight-based activity of the heterogeneous catalysts tested is maximum for Smopex 101. The following table gives the activity of different catalysts in the esterification reaction between acetic acid and butanol at `75^(@)C`.

Here: `k_(obs)` : observed reaction rate constant (`m^(3) mol^(-1)s^(-1)`) kc catalysed reaction rate constant (`m^(3)mol^(-1) g_(cat)^(-1)s^(-1)`) Please note: k c = k obs/ amount (in g)
(source: PETERS, T., BENES, N., HOLMEN, A., & KEURENTJES, J. (2006). Comparison of commercial solid acid catalysts for the esterification of acetic acid with butanol. Applied Catalysis A: General, 297(2), 182-188. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2005.09.00)
Catalysts used in oil refining industry are:

Options

A. ion exchange resins
B. superacids
C. zeolites
D. mineral liquid acids

Answer

C