ABSTRACT
Carbons are most frequently used as catalyst supports or adsorbents. Some carbons are sufficiently acidic or can be treated with nitric acid to be made acidic to catalyze the hydrolysis of esters. The carbons are also more thermally robust than acidic sulfonic ion-exchange resins and can routinely operate at temperatures greater than 100 °C. The nature of the acidic group(s) on carbon responsible for the catalytic activity for ester hydrolysis do not catalyze the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether at temperatUres up to 200 °C.
