Montmorillonite K10 (MMT K10), the major clay mineral commercially available can be treated to improve its properties and thus can be utilized for a broad range of organic reaction including esterification of fatty acids for biodiesel production. However, the use of unmodified MMT K10 in esterification of fatty acids showed that the acid conversion was less than 60 %. The aim of this study is to utilize available material i.e. MMT K10 modified with Cu2+, Al3+ and Fe3+ at various concentrations as catalyst for the esterification of acetic acid and stearic acid. The x-ray diffraction and elemental analysis of the materials were successfully characterized. After characterization, the materials were evaluated for the esterification of acetic acid and stearic acid with methanol. Prepared catalysts were able to give the highest acid conversion of up to 75% relative to the unmodified MMT K10 revealing the potential of M-MMT K10 as catalyst for esterification in biodiesel production. � Copyright International Association of Engineers.

The aim of this work is to develop a new type of polymer matrix which can be used to study the reactive intermediates produced from UV photolysis of metal carbonyl complexes measured with FTIR as well as UV-vis spectroscopy. The photochemistry of Cr(CO)6impregnated in Teflon-AF polymer with the presence of N2, CH4and even weak ligand i.e.Xe and He were conducted at extremely low temperature. Photolysis of Cr(CO)6under N2environment produces up to four carbonyl groups being replaced with the N2. Meanwhile, the photochemistry of Cr(CO)6under Xe and CH4produce the reactive complexes of Cr(CO)5(Xe) and Cr(CO)5(CH4)respectively. Teflon-AF was found to be the suitable matrix material as the �C�F� bond binds very weakly to the metal center. � 2016 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved.