Patent ID: 7767867

Claim:
A method of generating an oxygenated compound, the method comprising the steps of: a) contacting a first catalytic material comprising one or more Group VIII metals with a first portion of an aqueous feedstock solution comprising water and at least one water-soluble oxygenated hydrocarbon having two or more carbon atoms, at: i. a temperature of about 80° C. to 400° C.; ii. a weight hourly space velocity of at least about 1.0 gram of the oxygenated hydrocarbon per gram of the first catalytic material per hour; and iii. a pressure where at least a portion of the water and the oxygenated hydrocarbons are condensed liquids, to produce an aqueous phase reforming (APR) stream that comprises hydrogen and at least one of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide; and b) reacting the APR stream with a second portion of the feedstock solution over a second catalytic material, the second catalytic material different than the first catalytic material and selected from the group consisting of: iron, ruthenium, copper, rhenium, cobalt, nickel, alloys thereof, and mixtures thereof, at: i. a temperature of about 100° C. to 300° C.; and ii. a pressure of about 200 psig to about 1200 psig, to produce a reaction product comprising one or more oxygenated compounds selected from the group consisting of a polyol, a ketone, an aldehyde, a carboxylic acid and an alcohol.