The complete catalytic oxidation of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) over palladium supported on alumina was evaluated. The effect of temperature, inlet DCE concentration, and the space time on the reaction rate and selectivity was examined with the aim of better understanding of the reaction pathway. DCE oxidation reactions were carried out in a conventional fixed-bed reactor at atmospheric pressure under conditions of lean DCE concentration in air. The outlet composition was analysed by a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector (ECD) and a thermal conductivity detector (TCD). The reaction scheme resulted in a first dehydrochlorination step of DCE, leading to the formation of vinyl chloride (VC), followed by direct oxidation of VC to CO and CO2. CO is finally oxidized to CO2. The developed kinetic model provided an accurate correlation of the experimental data, determined by a non-linear least-squares regression. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.