Kinetic study of the isomerization for endotetrahydrodicyclopentadiene over AlCl3 catalyst

The isomerization of endo-tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene (THDCPD) to exo-THDCPD over AlCl₃ catalyst has been studied in a batch reactor. The effects of temperature, catalyst loading, and the type and amount of solvent on the isomerization rate were investigated. Under the conditions of removing both internal and external diffusion effects, a kinetic model was established and the model parameters were developed. The results showed that the endo- to exo- isomerization of THDCPD can be treated as a first-order reaction. The activation energy E₀ and pre-exponential factor obtained from Arrhenius plot are 116 kJ I mol and 3.39x10¹³ respectively. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental data.