Hydrogenation of 2-ethyl-anthraquinone (EAQ) has been studied over AL(2)O(3)-supported monometallic Pd and bimetallic Pd-Co, Pd-Ag, and Pd-Cu catalysts prepared by incipient wetness co-impregnation method. The catalytic performance of the bimetallic catalysts could be greatly affected by the reduction temperature and mass ratio of the second metal (M = Co, Ag, Cu) to Pd (M/Pd). The highest catalytic activity, along with the high selectivity is achieved over Pd-Co catalysts having M/Pd = 0.25 reduced at a low temperature of 80 degrees C, with an increase in an order of magnitude in the reaction rate compared to the monometallic Pd catalyst. This could be ascribed to the synergistic effects of the Pd-M alpha+ structure formed at low reduction temperature, which is confirmed by the results of H-2-TPR, FTIR of CO adsorbed, STEMEDX and XPS characterizations. The experimental data were satisfactorily fitted to a LangmuirHinshelwood (L-H) model involving a surface reaction controlling mechanism for EAQ hydrogenation. The results revealed that the surface reaction rate constant remarkably increased over bimetallic Pd Co and Pd-Ag catalysts, implying that their superior activity is due to the more facile activation of carbonyl bond of EAQ on Pd-M alpha+ sites than on Pd sites. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.