Continuous Hydrogenation of Glucose in a Micropacked Bed Reactor

Glucose hydrogenation is a critical industrial process for biomass conversion. However, this process often faces challenges, such as unsatisfactory mass and heat transfer, harsh reaction conditions, and catalyst deactivation. Herein, a continuous glucose hydrogenation process is developed utilizing a micropacked bed reactor. Using Ru/C catalyst, full conversion and satisfactory selectivity to sorbitol (99.0%) are achieved under mild reaction conditions (100 °C, 1 MPa), with a high space-time yield of 1.25 gsorb/(gcat·h). No significant catalyst deactivation is observed over 500 h, and the turnover number (53,144) exceeds those reported in the literature (9 – 3350), demonstrating the remarkable stability of Ru/C catalyst. The reaction kinetics are established. Additionally, the system is successfully applied to various sugar substrates, indicating excellent substrate compatibility. High yields and STYs are achieved under milder temperatures and hydrogen pressures. The continuous flow system offers a promising approach to biomass hydrogenation reactions.