Catalytic activity enhancement of sulfated metal oxide by doping Co on MIL-100(Fe) for esterification

•MIL-100(Fe) is successfully doped with cobalt (Co) and used for stable solid acid synthesis.•Doped Co aggrandizes the catalyst surface area and enhance acid intensity and amount.•The catalytic stability of solid acid is increased by 20 % with doping Co.•Activation energy and pre-exponential factor are calculated for esterification.