Kinetic Modelling of Levulinic Acid Hydrogenation Over Ru-Containing Polymeric Catalyst

This work is devoted to kinetic modelling of levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation to gamma-valerolactone (GVL) in aqueous medium in a batch mode using 5%-Ru/MN100 catalyst, which comprises Ru dioxide nanoparticles confined in polymeric network of hyper-crosslinked polystyrene of MN100 type. Kinetic models of liquid-phase hydrogenation of LA to GVL were proposed based on Langmuir–Hinshelwood and Eley–Rideal mechanisms. Calculations based on experimental data obtained during the study allowed determining the main kinetic parameters of LA hydrogenation reaction and to propose the rate expression adequately describing the catalytic process. Moreover, hypothesis on the reaction mechanism was proposed considering RuO2 as catalytically active phase and 4-hydroxypentanoic acid as main intermediate compound.