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Esterification is a reaction to produce an ester from an alcohol and a carboxylic acid. Generally, homogenous acid catalysts are used to accelerate the reaction rate due to their excellent performance in the reaction. The catalysts provide high conversion of carboxylic acids and good selectivity to produce esters. However, it has several drawbacks, such as difficulty catalyst-product separation, corrosiveness, toxic waste production, and non-reusable. It is, therefore, necessary to develop heterogeneous catalysts for the reaction. Zeolite has potential to use as a catalyst for esterification. Yet, it is sometimes easily to be deactivated due to the formation of coke on its surface. This paper presents a preliminary study of zeolite as a catalyst for esterification reaction. Zeolite catalyst was prepared from natural zeolites, originally obtained from Indonesia. The prepared catalyst was tested for the esterification reaction of glycerol with oleic acid to produce monoglycerides, which can be used as food emulsifiers. |
