In this study, the throughput and kinetics of furfural production by the liquefaction of wet flax straw was conducted. The reaction was carried out in the temperature range of 200-325 degrees C, pressure of 0-60 bar, retention time in the range of 0-120 min, catalyst amount of 0.5-1.5 g, and a flax straw mass fraction of 10% using three types of solid acid catalysts: y alumina, H-ZSM-5, and silica-alumina. The results show that the highest yield of furfural was obtained using gamma-alumina catalyst of weight of 1 g and the highest conversion of 66% at 325 degrees C. It was found that the acidity of the catalyst is key to enhance the production of furfural with a direct correlation with the number of the Lewis acid sites. The catalysts in order of the number of Lewis acid sites was found to be gamma-alumina > H-ZSM-5 > silica-alumina. The kinetic data were also developed using an empirical rate model. The apparent activation energy was found to be 9.4614/ mol and the reaction order was 2.0. Also, the model-predicted rate showed a good agreement with the experimental rates with more than 91% accuracy. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.