Hydrogenation of endo-endo dimer of norbornadiene over Pd catalysts

The hydrogenation of endo-endo dimer of Norbornadiene using Pd/Al2O3 cataly sts have been studied in a batchwise slurry reactor. The egg-shell catalyst was much more active than the uniform one. This can be attributed to the i ncomplete utilization of active sites near the center of the catalyst sampl e with uniform metal distribution resulting from diffusional hindrance. The kinetic studies of the egg-shell catalyst showed that the reaction rate is zeroth order with respect to norbornadiene and first order to partial pres sure of hydrogen, The rate equation can be expressed as -rNN = 2.525 x 10(2 ) X exp(-4380/T). P-H2 (mol/sec.g catal.), The reaction follows the Horiuti -Polanyi mechanism. Hydrogen is dissociatively adsorbed on metal; NN is strongly adsorbed on me tal and the rate-limiting step is surface reaction.