A new type solid acid of SO 2- 4/Fe 2O 3 ZrO 2 SiO 2 was prepared through coprecipitation impregnation method and applied to catalyze the esterification of acetic acid and butanol.The following reaction conditions such as reaction temperature,amount of catalyst,reaction time were examind.The conversion of HAc,yield of butylacetate and selectivity of butylacetate could reach 98.17%,94.28% and 96.04% respectively.In addition,the usage life was examined.The main reason of deactivity of the catalyst maybe due to the loss of surficial SO 2- 4 which is likely one of the active components.The catalysts were characterized via XPS,XRD,TGA and BET.The components of catalyst exist mainly as amorphous state.The active structure of catalyst may contain the following components as Fe,Zr,Si,O and SO 2- 4.