High-Efficiency Production of Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol over a Ru/C Catalyst in Micropacked Bed Reactors: Reaction Optimization and Kinetic Studies

In this work, high-efficiency and continuous production of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) over a Ru/C catalyst was performed in micropacked bed reactors (μPBRs). The excellent reaction performance demonstrated by the combination of μPBRs and the Ru/C catalyst resulted in a 100% furfural (FUR) conversion and a 98.5% yield of THFA within 3.5 min at 25 °C. Subsequently, a kinetic model was developed to describe the continuous hydrogenation of FUR in μPBRs. Utilizing the established kinetic model, the concentrations of various substances were predicted at different residence times between 25 and 45 °C, with an error of less than ±25%. The apparent activation energies for the FUR conversion to furfuryl alcohol (FA) and for the subsequent hydrogenation of FA to THFA were found to be 18.9 and 30.6 kJ/mol, respectively. Furthermore, the space-time yield (STY) of the μPBR system reached 0.21 kgTHFA L–1 h–1, significantly surpassing stirred tank reactors (STRs). These results demonstrate the superior efficiency and productivity of the μPBR system, providing a scalable and sustainable solution for the THFA synthesis.