Experimental and modeling studies in the catalytic hydrogenation of glucose and fructose were carried out for the production of sorbitol and mannitol on ruthenium and nickel catalysts. Ruthenium based catalyst showed better results when compared to the Ni-Raney catalyst, achieving close to 100% of reactant conversion after 3 h of reaction at 130°C and 750 psia conditions. The application of hybrid autocatalytic kinetic models for the reaction network of the formation of sorbitol and mannitol led to simulation results that represented the data obtained experimentally well. The autocatalytic terms were observed in the concentration profiles of sorbitol and mannitol. From the correlation between the experimental data and the simulation results of the autocatalytic kinetic models, it was possible to determine the kinetic parameters of the hydrogenation using both the nickel and ruthenium catalysts (Ni/Raney and Ru/Al 2 O 3 , respectively).

Quantum chemical calculations were performed to obtain information on the molecular properties of relevant species involved in catalytic glucose hydrogenation for the production of sorbitol.