Preparation and catalytic performance of a carbon-based solid acid catalyst with high specific surface area

A carbon-based solid acid catalyst was prepared by incomplete carbonization of H3PO4-impregnated pulp fibers followed by sulfonation. XRD, FT-IR, BET, TGA, and acid density test were employed to characterize the structure and performance of the catalyst. Results showed that the catalyst was amorphous carbon composed of aromatic carbon sheets with –COOH, –OH and –SO3H groups. Previous impregnation with H3PO4 could promote porosity formation of the catalyst. The optimized carbonization temperature and time for the catalyst were 250 °C and 1.5 h. The –SO3H density and specific surface area for the catalyst prepared under the optimized conditions were 1.1 mmol g−1 and 118 m2 g−1, respectively. Compared to HZSM-5, Amberlyst-15 and previous reported carbon catalysts, the catalyst showed higher catalytic activity for transesterification of methyl acetate with n-butanol as hydrophobic reaction. The catalyst had good thermal stability, which could bear 200 °C without decomposition. The catalyst retained satisfactory catalytic activity for transesterification of methyl acetate after 8 reaction cycles.