AbstractParticle to gas heat transfer studies were carried out for the exothermic benzene hydrogenation and endothermic cyclohexane dehydrogenation reactions on the same catalyst bed. A recirculation type reactor and eggshell type commercial platinum on alumina catalyst were used. When the thermodynamic value for the heat of reaction is used for both reactions in the steady‐state energy balance, localJHfactors for the exothermic reaction were found to be, in general, higher than those for the endothermic reaction. This was attributed to product molecules leaving the catalyst surface with excess vibrational energy, which implies that the actual heat of reaction would be different than the thermodynamic value used in theJHfactor calculations. The study also indicated significant variations in the localJHfactors; these were attributed to variations in the linear velocity in the radial directio