Abstract:

Zinc manganese oxide nano-catalyst has been synthesized by a co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results indicate that the sample can be indexed to tetragonal ZnMn2O4 and the particle size ranges from 20 to 50 nm. The obtained ZnMn2O4 nanoparticles have been used as catalysts for the esterification reaction between n-butanol and acetic acid. The experimental results show that the ZnMn2O4 nanoparticles have high catalytic activity on the synthesis of n-butyl acetate. The influential factors including catalyst calcination temperature, acid-to-alcohol molar ratio, dosage of catalyst and reaction time on the yield of n-butyl acetate have also been investigated and maximal esterification rate up to 92.53% has been achieved under the following conditions: catalyst calcination temperature = 300 ℃, n(acid):n(alcohol) = 1.8:1, the dosage of the ZnMn2O4 catalyst = 0.3% (in total mass of reactants) , reaction time = 4 h and esterification reaction temperature = 120℃.

Key words: Co-precipitation, ZnMn2O4, Catalysis, n-Butyl acetate