Selective hydrogenation of cyclopentadiene to cyclopentene over an amorphous NiB/SiO2 catalyst Original Research Article

An amorphous NiB/SiO2 catalyst, with a large specific surface area, was prepared by a reductive-impregnation method. The selective hydrogenation of cyclopentadiene to cyclopentene was carried out in a continuos flow fix-bed reactor at atmospheric pressure and with 10 g g cat−1 h−1 of cyclopentadiene feed. The catalyst showed high selectivity and stability. Cyclopentene was obtained in 96–100% yield at complete conversion of cyclopentadiene at temperatures ranging from 80°C to 200°C and no significant decrease of the activity was observed during the reaction period of 500 h. The catalyst sample was characterized by ICP, XRD, DSC, SEM, XPS, BET and O2 adsorption. XRD measurement revealed that the amorphous state was kept after catalytic reaction. Differential kinetic study showed that the hydrogenation proceeded according to a Rideal-Eley mechanism.