Liquid phase hydrogenation of styrene oxide using 1% Pd/C and NaOH as a promoter was found to give selectively P-phenethyl alcohol (PEA) under very mild conditions (313-333 K; 0.68-5.5 MPa). The kinetics of this system was investigated by collecting initial rate data in a batch slurry reactor. Rate of hydrogenation was found to decrease beyond a certain concentration of both hydrogen (> 3 MPa) and styrene oxide (> 0.5 kmol/m(3)). A Langmuir-Hinshelwood type rate equation has been proposed based on the initial rate data in the kinetic regime. The model predictions agree very well with the experimentally observed concentration-time data indicating the applicability of the proposed rate model. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.