Research Article pubs.acs.org/acscatalysis
Analysis of Kinetics and Reaction Pathways in the Aqueous-Phase Hydrogenation of Levulinic Acid To Form γ‑Valerolactone over Ru/C Omar Ali Abdelrahman,† Andreas Heyden,‡ and Jesse Q. Bond†,* †
Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, United States Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, United States
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S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: Reaction pathways and kinetics governing the Rucatalyzed hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) in the aqueous phase to form γ-valerolactone (GVL) were considered in a packed bed reactor. GVL can be produced by two distinct hydrogenation pathways; however, over Ru/C at temperatures below 423 K, it forms exclusively via intramolecular esterification of 4-hydroxypentanoic acid (HPA). Over Ru/C, reasonable hydrogenation rates of LA to HPA were observed at near-ambient temperatures (e.g., 0.08 s−1 at 323 K), but GVL selectivities are poor (
