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Synthesis of Magnetic Sulfonated Carbon/Fe3O4/Palygorskite Composites and Application as a Solid Acid Catalyst

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Clays and Clay Minerals

Abstract

Sulfonated carbon is a green, solid acid catalyst but its surface area, separation, and recovery after utilization need to be improved. The objective of the present study was to provide an environmentally friendly and economical method to prepare magnetic sulfonated carbon composite catalyst with a large surface area using palygorskite (Plg) as the support. A magnetic sulfonated carbon/Fe3O4/Plg composite catalyst was prepared via simultaneous calcination and sulfonation of the mixture of source, p-toluenesulfonic acid (TsOH), and Fe3O4/Plg. Fe3O4 nanoparticles and Plg nanorods were encased by a carbon layer derived from sucrose and TsOH. The composite catalyst exhibited good magnetic properties and high catalytic performance for the esterification of oleic acid with methanol. Oleic acid conversion reached 88.69% after the first catalytic cycle. Plg nanorods replaced sucrose and increased the catalyst’s surface area. The introduction of Fe3O4 nanoparticles improved further the acid content and oleic-acid conversion and achieved 70.31% after five cycles. The catalyst was recycled easily using an external magnetic field and its magnetic property remained unchanged due to the protection of the carbon layer.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province (No. 2018-JNHB-009), Natural Science Key Project of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (19KJA430015), the Foundation of Key Laboratory for Palygorskite Science and Applied Technology of Jiangsu Province (HPZ202001), and the National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Mineral Salt Deep Utilization (SF201906, SF202103). The first author is grateful to Dr Nisar Ali for his help in completing the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Palygorskite Science and Applied Technology of Jiangsu Province, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an, 223003, China

    Mei Wu, Jinlong Jiang, Yingnian Ji & Yaxi Gu

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, 252059, China

    Xingjun Yao

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, China

    Qiulin Deng

  4. National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Mineral Salt Deep Utilization, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an, 223003, China

    Jing Ouyang

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  1. Mei Wu
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  3. Jinlong Jiang
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  4. Yingnian Ji
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  5. Yaxi Gu
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Mei Wu, Xingjun Yao, Jing Ouyang and Jinlong Jiang. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jinlong Jiang.

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Associate Editor: Hongping He

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Wu, M., Yao, X., Jiang, J. et al. Synthesis of Magnetic Sulfonated Carbon/Fe3O4/Palygorskite Composites and Application as a Solid Acid Catalyst. Clays Clay Miner. 70, 514–526 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42860-022-00199-0

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