conversion of levulinic acid to n-butyl levulinate over mesoporous zirconium phosphate catalysts

In this study, mesoporous zirconium phosphates (m-zrps) with a different molar ratio of phosphate to zirconium were synthesized and used as the heterogeneous catalyst for the production of n-butyl levulinate from levulinic acid. the catalysts were characterized using various techniques such as n2 adsorption-desorption, xrd, ft-ir, icp-oes, sem and tem. the prepared catalysts were confirmed to possess the mesoporous structure with a high surface area. among the synthesized catalysts, m-zrp-2 showed the best performance in the conversion of levulinic acid to n-butyl levulinate. the reaction conditions were optimized on parameters such as reaction time, temperature, amount of catalyst, and the molar ratio of la to n-butanol. temperature 120°c, reaction time 7 h, the ratio of acid to alcohol 1:9 and 0.01 g catalyst were selected as the optimum conditions. in addition, the selected m-zrp-2 catalyst was successfully recycled for six consecutive cycles without significant loss in its activity.