Acid catalysts comprising of porous SiAl, as well as molybdophosphoric heteropolyacid, supported SiAl nano - tubes were synthesized. The characterizations were through scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy - dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray di ffraction (XRD), X- ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), termoprogrammed ammonia desorption (NH 3 -TPD) and Fourier trans- form infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Esteri fication of glycerol into acetins reaction was evaluated over two series of SiAl-based solids. Both series displayed very good activity as well as selectivity towards the acetins within a short reaction time. However, porous SiAl deactivated due to acid sites leaching in long-term catalytic runs. The tuning of the loadings of the molybdophosphoric amount on SiAl halloysite nanotubes leads to an increase in the selectivity towards the mono, di, and triacetins. These catalysts were also recycled up to three times, and a 17 % of conversion and 100 % of selectivity for triacetin were obtained due to the combination of acidity, stable structure and porosity of the molybdophosphoric supported SiAl nanotubes.