No abstract

Liquid phase hydrolysis and esterification in which water exists as one of the reactants or products are usually catalyzed by homogenous acids such as H2SO4. Sulphuric acid being a homogenous acid poses problems due to corrosion, disposal, and handling. Alternatively, the use of heterogeneous catalyst like Niobic acid [1], ion exchange resin [2,3] and metal oxides [1] have been reported to have overcome these problems. However, catalyst like Niobic acid and metal oxides needs special treatment and performance of these catalysts is sensitive to the pretreatment conditions [1]. Hence, ion-exchange resins are