Silicon carbide solid foams decorated with a dense, homogeneous and mechanically strength layer of carbon nanofibers were successfully employed as catalyst support for the palladium active phase in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of C=C bond. The carbon nanofibers provide a high density of anchorage sites for improving the dispersion of the metal nanoparticles compared to the pure SiC support where low metal-support interaction leads to the formation of larger palladium particles. The catalyst was directly used as a rotating foam catalytic stirrer and has shown a better catalytic performance in the liquid-phase selective hydrogenation compared to that obtained on a palladium deposited on a pristine SiC support. The macroscopic shaping of the catalyst also allows an easy product/catalyst separation after the reaction. The catalyst also displays an extremely high stability as a function of cycling tests as no hydrogenation activity lost was observed after ten cycling tests. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.