C-13 DEPT-MRI is used to provide the first spatial mapping of alkene isomerisation and hydrogenation during an alkene hydrogenation reaction occurring within a trickle-bed reactor. The implementation of a pulse sequence combining the spatial resolution of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pulse sequence with a C-13 DEPT magnetic resonance spectroscopy pulse sequence enables spatially resolved C-13 spectra to be recorded of natural abundance C-13 species. Observation of the C-13 nucleus, which has a much larger chemical shift range than the H-1 nucleus, provides spectra from which direct identification of the products of isomerisation and hydrogenation is achieved. This technique is illustrated with respect to the hydrogenation of 1-octene over a 1 wt% Pd/Al2O3 catalyst. In this preliminary study we demonstrate the ability of this technique to identify the effect of changing the hydrogen flow rate on the evolution of isomerisation and hydrogenation processes occurring along the length of the bed.