Kinetics of α-Methylstyrene Hydrogenation on Pd/Al2O3

Analysis of the literature on α-methylstyrene (AMS) hydrogenation reveals very large variations in the reported reaction rates. The presence of traces of water and mass-transfer limitations make reproducible intrinsic kinetic determination difficult. Under anhydrous conditions, the intrinsic kinetic law was, nevertheless, determined under a wide range of operating conditions: 0.5−100 wt % AMS, 0.1−0.6 MPa, 273−320 K, with an activation energy of 38.7 ± 1.5 kJ·mol-1.