Promotion of sulfated zirconia with alumina (ASZ) improves its catalytic activities in n-butane isomerization. The activity and stability of the sulfated zirconia catalysts are investigated in three different nanostructures: ASZ supported on MCM-41, ASZ nanoparticles, and At-promoted mesoporous sulfated zirconia. The increase of activity was determined primarily by the amount of aluminum addition and the temperature of calcination. The remarkable activity and stability of the Al-promoted catalysts are due to an improved distribution of acid sites strength. The At loadings in all three catalysts can be adjusted so that optimum catalytic activities for butane isomerization could be found. The increase of butane conversion can be as high as 6 times of that in un-promoted SZ catalysts. This is due to an enhanced amount of weak Bronsted acid sites with intermediate strength on the optimal catalysts. For nanoparticle form of sulfated zirconia, the activity is most steady which is related to the optimum distribution of weak Bronsted acid. On the other hand, too much strong Bronsted acid leads to rapid decay of activity because of coking and cracking. The overall reaction mechanism of the isomerization of n-butane over sulfated zirconia was discussed to understand the details in product distribution. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.