Process for preparing ethylene glycol from a carbohydrate source

Process for preparing ethylene glycol from a carbohydrate source,

• wherein hydrogen, the carbohydrate source, a liquid diluent and a catalyst system are introduced as reactants into a reaction zone;
• wherein the catalyst system comprises a tungsten compound and ruthenium as hydrogenolysis metal and further at least one promoter metal selected from Cu, Fe, Ni, Co, Pt, Pd, Rh, and Ir;
• wherein the carbohydrate source is reacted with hydrogen in the presence of the catalyst system to yield a product mixture comprising ethylene glycol and butylene glycol;
• and wherein butylene glycol is selectively removed from the product mixture by azeotropic distillation using an entraining agent, wherein the entraining agent is selected from the group consisting of glycerol, erythritol, sorbitol, methyl ethyl ketoxime and combinations thereof.