Abstract:
A series of SBA-15 materials functionalized with 12-silicotungstic acid (HSiW-SBA-15) were one-pot hydrothermally synthesized with Pluronic P123 as template and tetraethylorthosilicate as the silica source. The materials were characterized by various techniques, such as XRD, N
2 adsorption-desorption, FT-IR, DR UV-Vis, TEM and Py-IR. Their catalytic activities for the synthesis of biodiesel were investigated comparatively with the esterification of oleic acid with methanol as the probe reaction. The results showed that the HSiW was highly dispersed and resulting materials maintained the ordered mesoporous structure of SBA-15 and the Keggin structure of HSiW. On the other hand, the functionality of HSiW influenced the long range order of SBA-15 to some extent, which decreased with the increase of HSiW dosage. Furthermore, the HSiW-SBA-15 was efficient for oleic acid esterification and 25% HSiW-SBA-15 with excellent durability was found to be more active than the others.