Kourosh Motevalli - Chemistry Department, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran,
Zahra Yaghoubi - Industrial Engineering Faculty, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

Highly ordered mesoporous materials are opening the door to new opportunities in the catalysis due to their extraordinary intrinsic features. In this survey, zirconium(IV) was supported on highly ordered mesoporous silica (KIT-6) by the wet impregnation method, and its performance in the hydrogenation of edible Seed Oil was compared with that of Zr/activated carbon prepared using the same method as well as with unsupported zirconium(IV). The degree of conversion for the 50 : 50 Zr was 81%, as compared to the 29% obtained with 50 : 50 Zr/Activated carbons. Key among the benefits of KIT-6 when used as a support material is the high surface area, open framework of the 3D bicontinuous interconnected channels, and the well-ordered mesopores which bestow on it an advanced mass transfer characteristics.

Catalytic hydrogenation, zirconium(IV), nanocatalyst, hydrogenation