Kinetics of liquid-phase hydrogenation of furfuraldehyde to furfuryl alcohol over a Pt/C catalyst

The kinetics of the liquid-phase hydrogenation of furfuraldehyde to furfuryl alcohol over a 5% Pt/C catalyst was studied in a slurry reactor. The solvent used was a mixture of 2-propanol and water (12.4% w/w). At the temperatures (403-448 K) and pressures (1.03-2.06 MPa) studied, all mass-transfer resistances (gas-liquid, liquid-solid, and intraparticle diffusion) were absent. The initial rate data were analyzed using a power-law model. The initial rates increased almost linearly with hydrogen concentration at all temperatures. The reaction showed a zeroth-order dependence with respect to furfuraldehyde above a feed concentration of 0.13 kmol m(-3). Below this value, the order was found to be 0.86. Therefore, a Langmuir-Hinshelwood-type model for a dual-site mechanism with molecular adsorption of all species was proposed, and this model provided the best fit of the experimental data. Catalyst reusability studies showed that the catalyst could be reused without any adverse effects.