Vapour phase hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone over titania supported palladium system: A kinetic study

Kinetics of vapour phase hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone over Pd/T iO2 catalyst has been studied in a down flow micro reactor under normal atm ospheric pressure. The reaction rates have been measured at three different temperatures with respect to the partial pressures of phenol and hydrogen. The order of the reaction with respect to phenol is 0.33 at 458 K and incr eases with increase in temperature to 0.74 at 503 K. The apparent activatio n energy (E-a) of the process has been found to be 46 kJ/mol. On the basis of kinetic results a surface mechanism is proposed.