Question

The catalyst used for hydrogenation of oils is ………………

Answer 1

Hint: The catalyst used for hydrogenation of oils is a metal. These are d-block elements. These elements are from the tenth group of the periodic table. Now try to find the answer to the question accordingly.

Complete step by step answer:
Let’s discuss the stepwise answer to this question -

Hydrogenation of oils - Hydrogenation is the general process to treat with hydrogen which is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen ($H_{ 2 }$) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst. Hydrogenation reduces double and triple bonds in hydrocarbons.
These elements are nickel, palladium, or platinum. Anyone from these can be used as a catalyst. A metal catalyst provides an alternate pathway with lower activation energy. This allows the reaction to take place at lower temperatures. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturated organic compounds.

During hydrogenation, vegetable oils react with hydrogen gas at about 60ºC. This catalyst is used to speed up the reaction. In this process, double bonds are converted to single bonds in the reaction.

We can consider this reaction:
$CH_{ 2 }=CH_{ 2 }\quad +\quad H-H\quad \rightarrow \quad CH_{ 3 }-CH_{ 3 }$

Therefore, we can complete this statement as “The catalyst used for hydrogenation of oils is nickel, palladium, or platinum.”

Note: We should know that this reaction will go without a catalyst, but it needs extremely high temperatures. A catalyst will make this process a lot easier by reducing the requirements of temperature.