Fascinating and challenging role of tungstate promoted vanadium phosphate towards solvent free esterification of oleic acid

A novel solid acid catalyst has been extensively used for the esterification reaction. Herein, tungstate promoted vanadium phosphate material is fabricated from its precursor, VOHPO(4)·0.5H(2)O and its catalytic activities and structure are investigated in detail. This kind of catalyst is, for the first time, applied for the effective production of biodiesel from fatty acids. Although vanadium phosphate has been extensively used in gas phase oxidation reactions, it has not drawn much attention for its application in liquid phase reactions. Our recent results indicate that vanadium phosphate is an effective, minimally polluting and re-usable catalyst that is highly suited to the production of biodiesel from fatty acids. This work extends the possibility of using VPO in other liquid phase reactions.