Patent ID: 8722573

Claim:
A process of preparing a sulfonated carbon silica (SCS) composite comprising: (a) gradually mixing a saccharide with a silica source and a sulfuric acid to form a reaction mixture, wherein a ratio between saccharide and the silica source is in the range of about 0.385 to about 4.25 on a molar basis and sulphuric acid in the range of 0.234 to 1.020M; (b) allowing a hydrolyzing reaction to progress in the reaction mixture by maintaining the reaction mixture at a temperature in the range of about 298 K to 320 K for a period in the range of about 2 to about 5 hours to effect hydrolyzation thereby to obtain a gel; (c) treating the gel thus obtained in step (b) at a temperature in the range of about 350 K to about 423 K for a period in the range of about 12 hours to about 18 hours to obtain a bulk solid mass; and (d) heating the bulk solid mass as obtained in (c) at a temperature in range of about 473 K to about 573 K for a period in the range of about 4 hours to about 8 hours under nitrogen gas to obtain the sulfonated carbon silica (SCS) composite.