The primary objective of this thesis is to define optimum catalysts, reaction conditions and reactor configurations for the conversion of water hyacinth plant to LA. The conversion of the C6-sugars present in the water hyacinth plant to LA involves several reactions that together form a complex reaction network. A number of side reactions giving rise to by-products formation (e.g., insoluble humin compounds) significantly complicate the catalyst selection and the development of kinetic models. Therfore, a stepwise approach was applied by investigating the individual reactions in the overall reaction scheme separately.