Hydrogenation Kinetics of N-Ethylcarbaozle as a Heteroaromatic Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier

The catalytic hydrogenation kinetics of N-ethylcarbazole over 5 wt% Ru/Al2O3 was investigated at various temperatures. The results shows that the hydrogenation reaction was exothermic and high temperature is unfavorable for the reaction rate. Fully hydrogenation was achieved within 1 hour under the best reaction temperature of 170 °C. The kinetics of N-ethylcarbazole follows the first-order kinetics in terms of the reactant concentration but independent of hydrogen pressure, which was maintained as a constant in the reaction process. The apparent activation energy of N-ethylcarbazole hydrogenation reaction at 150-180 °C was found to be 71.2 kJ/mol.