ABSTRACT This study aims to develop a novel oil hydrogenation process using a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) electrochemical reactor, focusing on optimizing the preparation of platinum nanowire (Pt‐NWs) catalysts and their application in hydrogenation. By controlling the concentration of the reducing agent (a formic acid‐to‐water ratio of 7:600) and maintaining the reaction temperature at 20°C, a high‐performance Pt‐NWs/C catalyst was synthesized. Since the crystal plane is considered the most active in the Pt catalyst, characterization showed that the Pt‐NWs/C exhibited sharper x‐ray diffraction peaks in that direction compared to commercial Pt/C, along with a more hydrophobic catalytic layer (contact angle of 135° ± 0.3°). In addition, the Pt‐NWs catalyst also demonstrates superior performance in electrochemical stability (a 29.31% decrease). The catalyst was applied in an SPE hydrogenation reactor, and its performance in soybean oil hydrogenation was systematically evaluated. The results show that the hydrogenated oil containing Pt‐NWs/C has good selectivity, while transfatty acid (TFA) content was about 13% lower than with commercial Pt/C. Electronic nose analysis confirmed that the hydrogenated oil retained favorable flavor characteristics. Polarized light microscopy showed that oil produced by Pt‐NWs/C had a finer (approximately 20 nm) and more uniform crystal structure. The Pt‐NWs/C catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity (ECSA value of 27.40 m 2 g −1 ) and selectivity by the SPE reactor, offering a promising technological pathway for producing healthy hydrogenated oil with low TFA content.
Zheng et al. (Thu,) studied this question.