The kinetics of ethylene hydrogenation catalyzed by metallic palladium

The activity of Pd(111) for ethylene hydrogenation is measured using a high-pressure reactor incorporated into an ultrahigh vacuum chamber for temperatures between 300 and 475 K, ethylene pressures between 50 and 300 Torr and hydrogen pressures from 45 to 600 Torr. The reaction rate is found to be rapid with turnover frequencies up to 400 reactions/site/s (where rates are referenced to the atom site density on the (111) face of palladium). The measured activation energy is 35 kJ/mol. A hydrogen reaction order of 1.02 was found at a reaction temperature of 300 K and an ethylene pressure of 100 Torr, where the hydrogen reaction order was found to depend on temperature. A negative reaction order of –0.22 was found in ethylene pressure at a reaction temperature of 320 K and a hydrogen pressure of 100 Torr. The reaction rates are in good agreement with values obtained on silica-supported palladium and with other work on palladium single crystals.