Thermally Activated Palm Kernel Based Carbon as a Support for Edible Oil Hydrogenation Catalyst

Abstract

Activated carbon has distinctive properties as a support for hydrogenation catalysts. Thermally activated carbon has been prepared from palm kernel shell at 1073 K and placed under nitrogen flow for 2 h. It was impregnated by palladium using toluene solution of Pd (acac)2. The Pd/C was reduced using a water solution of potassium borohydride (KBH4). The Pd-B/C was characterized by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Pd-B/C was applied for sunflower oil hydrogenation at a temperature of 373 K, hydrogen pressure of 413.5 kPa and agitation of 1400 rpm for 1 h. Pd-B/C noticeably exhibited a higher overall catalyst activity in comparison to some recently published palladium catalysts.