Abstract: The gas-liquid-solid three-phase catalytic hydrogenation of ethyl acetate(EA) to ethanol was studied in a magnetically stirred autoclave with Cu-ZnO/Al₂O₃ as the catalyst.The effects of solvent,internal and external diffusion,and reaction conditions on the conversion of ethyl acetate and the selectivity to ethanol were investigated.The experimental results indicate that the conversion of ethyl acetate was higher in the solvent of tetraglyme than that in liquid paraffin.The internal and external diffusion resistance of the reaction could be ignored when the catalyst particle size was smaller than 120 μm and the stirring rate was higher than 800 r/min in the solvent of tetraglyme.Under the optimal reaction conditions of 250℃,5.0 MPa,stirring rate of 800 r/min,LHSV of 1.0 h^-1 and mole ratio of H₂ to EA 10:1,the conversion of ethyl acetate was 83.5% and the selectivity to ethanol was 96.5%.The introduction of the liquid medium to the hydrogenation of ethyl acetate to ethanol could solve the catalyst bed heat-removing problem of the gas-solid phase process and effectively reduce the mole ratio of H₂ to EA.