Environmentally friendly synthesis of ester of acetic acid by using nanoporous MgAlPO4 as catalyst

The liquid phase esterification of acetic acid with ethanol and n-butanol with no usage of mineral acid has been achieved by using recyclable and acidic nanoporous Mg substituted aluminophosphate (MgAlPO4) as catalyst. The N2 adsorption desorption measurements and electron diffraction patterns (SEM and TEM) makes a clear view about the nanopore and crystallinity of the catalyst MgAlPO4. The optimization of experimental conditions for the esterification reaction like time, temperature, catalyst dosage, molar ratio of reactants and selectivity of the products were examined. The maximum ethanol conversion was found to be 87% and the selectivity of the product also very high.