Premium
Kinetics of the ruthenium‐catalyzed hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ‐valerolactone in aqueous solutions
Author(s) -
Jain Anandkumar B.,
Vaidya Prakash D.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.22599
Subject(s) - levulinic acid , catalysis , chemistry , aqueous solution , ruthenium , kinetics , lignocellulosic biomass , chemical kinetics , arrhenius equation , organic chemistry , chemical engineering , nuclear chemistry , activation energy , hydrolysis , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
Levulinic acid (LA) is an especially promising feedstock for the production of chemicals and biofuels, because it can be prepared from lignocellulosic biomass. Its conversion to γ‐valerolactone (GVL), a fuel additive and precursor to transportation fuels, appears preferential. In this study, a heterogeneous Ru/C catalyst was employed for investigating the hydrogenation reaction of LA to GVL in the aqueous phase in a three‐phase mechanically agitated contactor. To explore kinetics, runs were performed in a chemical‐control regime between the temperatures 323–353 K, H 2 partial pressures 0.69–2.07 MPa, initial LA concentrations 4.31–12.93 mmol/L, and catalyst loadings 0.3–0.7 kg/m 3 . Langmuir‐Hinshelwood‐Hougen‐Watson (LHHW) models were applied to describe the initial rates of LA disappearance. The model, which presumed that surface reaction between non‐dissociatively chemisorbed H 2 and LA is limiting, was most suited to describe reaction kinetics. From an Arrhenius plot, it was found that the value of E act is 68.1 kJ/mol.