Aqueous Hydrogenation of Levulinic Acid to 1,4‐Pentanediol over Mo‐Modified Ru/Activated Carbon Catalyst

Abstract A highly efficient and green process was developed for direct conversion of levulinic acid into 1,4‐pentanediol over Mo‐modified Ru/activated carbon (AC) catalyst in a continuous fixed‐bed reactor. The Ru–MoO x /AC catalyst was found to be efficient for the aqueous‐phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid to 1,4‐pentanediol, whereby a high yield (96.7 mol %) of 1,4‐pentanediol was obtained under mild reaction conditions (70 °C, 4 MPa H 2 ).