Abstract
A possibility of lowering the formation of trans-isomers during hydrogenation of plant oil over a low-loaded palladium catalyst supported on activated diatomite was studied. The comparison to the commercial nickel catalyst led to establish that the activated diatomite is a promising support of the catalyst for hydrogenation of plant oil. Palladium particles of 2–10 nm in size (3–6 nm particles predominated) were shown to be uniformly distributed over the support surface. It was shown experimentally that the Pd catalyst was more active and selective at low temperature than the nickel catalyst to provide two-fold decrease in the concentration of trans-isomers in the hydrogenated fat.