Abstract: A novel charcoal-based sulfonated solid acid was synthesized through carbonation and then sulfonation of the bamboo charcoal using chlorosulfonic acid. The esterification of sebacic acid and n-butyl alcohol was taken as the model reaction to investigate the impact of preparation parameters on the catalyst activity. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FT-IR）、X-ray diffraction（XRD）、scanning electron microscope（SEM）and thermo gravimetric analysis（TGA）were used to characterize the catalyst. The results show that the charcoal-based solid acid catalyst has amorphous carbon structure and the catalyst prepared at the optimal conditions of carbonization at 325 ℃ for 1h and then sulfonation at room temperature for 2 h with acid-bamboo charcoal ratio of 2.5ml/g exhibits a higher catalytic activity. Its acid group can be reached 1.77 mmol/g. The conversion rate of sebacic acid reached 99.14 % at the following conditions: n-butyl alcohol to sebacic acid mole ratio 3.0, the amount of charcoal-based sulfonated solid acid for 2% of sebacic acid, 3 ml n-butyl alcohol, and reaction time 100min. After repeated use 4 times, sebacic acid conversion rate remains above 80%, indicating the good regeneration performance.