Glucose Hydrogenation in a Trickle-Bed Reactor

Catalytic hydrogenation of 40% aqueous solutions of D-glucose to D-glucitol was studied in a high-pressure trickle-bed reactor. The reactions were performed on a supported nickel catalyst at temperatures ranging from 115 to 165 °C and in the pressure range 0.5 to 10 MPa. The order of the reaction with respect to hydrogen is 0.65 and apparent activation energy 23.8-48.5 kJ mol-1, the latter depending on initial molar glucose concentration and density and viscosity of the solution. The influence of external diffusion is necessary to take into account for scaling-up the process.