The esterification of palmitic acid with methanol was studied over mesoporous sulfated zirconia (SZ) solid acid catalyst, prepared by using CTAB cationic surfactant as a template. The effect of various reaction parameters has been studied. The catalyst showed an excellent activity with 88-90% yield of methyl palmitate at 60 degrees C after 5-7 h. The reaction follows pseudo-first order kinetics under the reaction conditions studied with a reaction rate of 48.67 mmol h(-1) g(-1) and turnover frequency of 6.96 h(-1). It is noteworthy that SZ catalyst showed comparable activity to conventional Bronsted acids namely H2SO4 and p-TSA; as well as it exhibited higher activity than various other heterogeneous catalysts such as zeolites, ion-exchange resins and acid clay. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.