Kinetics of liquid-phase hydrogenation of furfuryl alcohol to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol over a Ru/TiO2 catalyst

The kinetics of the liquid-phase hydrogenation of furfuryl alcohol (FA) to a green solventtetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA)over a 5% Ru/TiO2 catalyst was studied in a slurry reactor. Hydrogenation of furfuryl alcohol was carried out at a hydrogen pressure of 0.68-4.08 MPa and temperature in the range 313-363 K. The selectivity toward THFA was > 97% at and below 333 K reaction temperature. Various Ru supported catalysts and solvents were screened during hydrogenation of furfuryl alcohol. Among the catalysts tested, 5% Ru/TiO2 was found to be the more active catalyst for the hydrogenation of FA using 2-propanol as a solvent. The kinetic data were analyzed using the power-law model. A single-site Langmuir-Hinshelwood-type model suggesting molecular adsorption (nondissociative) of hydrogen and surface reaction as the rate-controlling mechanism with the product inhibition step provided the best fit of the experimental data. Catalyst could be recycled with good selectivity.