The objective of this study is to evaluate the catalytic potential of metal oxide/MCM-41 catalysts in dicyclopentadiene oligomerization/dicyclopentadiene oligomer isomerization. Molybdenum oxide, tungsten oxide, and titanium oxide were loaded on MCM-41 using the modified atomic layer deposition method. The amount of the acid site with weak strength has been increased through metal oxide deposition. The oligomer yield in dicyclopentadiene oligomerization/dicyclopentadiene oligomer isomerization did not change with increasing of the amount of acid site. The highest tricyclopentadiene isomer selectivity over the MoO3/MCM-41 catalyst could be attributed to having the highest overall number of acid sites among the catalysts.

The oligomerization of endo-dicyclopentadiene (endo-DCPD) over a mesoporous catalyst in a continuous-flow reactor at elevated pressure was studied to produce tricyclopentadiene (TCPD) and tetracyclopentadiene (TeCPD). The mesoporous material prepared from zeolite beta (MMZ Hb ) was utilized as a catalyst. In addition, this study focused on the catalytic performance of the regenerated catalyst in comparison with the fresh catalyst. The TCPD and TeCPD were continuously produced through DCPD oligomerization over the MMZ Hb catalyst in a fixed bed reactor. At early time-on-stream, the conversion of endo-DCPD, the yield of TCPD and TeCPD, and the isomerization selectivity of TCPD in the fixed bed reactor were comparable to those in the batch-type reactor. The yield of oligomer containing TCPD and TeCPD decreased drastically from 28.5 % at 3 h time-onstream to 21.5 % at 12 h time-on-stream, indicating that the catalyst was significantly deactivated. The in situ calcination in air flow at 500°C was found to be effective for the regeneration of the used MMZ Hb catalyst.