Hydrogenation of Vegetable Oils with Minimum trans and Saturated Fatty Acid Formation Over a New Generation of Pd-catalyst

Hydrogenation of sunflower and canola oils over a novel Pd-supported catalyst (pore size of 6.8 nm and BET specific surface area of 837 m²/g) was investigated and compared to commercial nickel catalyst. The formulated catalyst with Pd-loading of 1 wt%, supported on structured silica material was active and selective for the hydrogenation of sunflower and canola oils under mild process conditions. For both oils, the novel Pd supported catalyst exhibited a better selectivity than commercial Ni catalyst at a similar activity with a lower metal loading. For the same iodine value (IV) reduction, the Pd-catalyst produced less saturated fatty acids (SFA) and about the same level of trans fatty acids (TFA), but was more selective towards cis monoenes formation than Ni-catalyst. More importantly, this catalyst produced a reduced level of stearic acid, which at increased levels causes waxy mouth feel of the hydrogenated fat.