Fixed- Bed continuous hydrogenation of soybean oil with palladium- Polymer supported catalysts

To compare a continuous hydrogenation system with batch hydrogenation, soybean oil was treated with Pd and Ni catalysts in a fixed-bed system under conditions that gave trickle flow. The influence of processing variables such as space velocity, pressure, temperature and hydrogen flow on the selectivity, specific isomerization and the activity was investigated. Both the Pd and Ni catalysts gave significantly lower specific isomerization(trans isomer per drop in Iodine Value) when compared to reported values for batch hydrogenation with similar type catalysts. The linolenate and linoleate selectivities were also significantly lower. Heterogenized homogeneous Pd-on-polystyrene catalyst gave lower specific isomerization formation and higher selectivity than carbon-supported Pd catalyst at same conditions. This work indicates that Pd-on-styrene, Pd-on-carbon and extruded Ni catalysts, in fixed-bed continuous hydrogenation can produce soybean oil of desirable composition after further optimization.