The catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) is a novel, alternative process for the selective hydrogenation of soybean oil due to the lower rate of formation of stearic acid and trans-isomer, which have an adverse health effects. Ruthenium and palladium supported catalysts were screened along with hydrogen donors during CTH process. The CTH of soybean oil was studied using aqueous ammonium formate solution over supported palladium catalyst. The method offered good selectivity in complete reduction of linolenic acid with a slight increase in stearic acid. The kinetics of CTH of soybean oil using ammonium formate as a hydrogen donor over 5% Pd/C catalyst was studied. The speed of agitation was sufficiently high enough to eliminate diffusional resistance. The CTH of soybean oil was described by pseudo-first order kinetic model. Runge-Kutta algorithm (RKS4) was used to determine the kinetic rate constants. The catalyst could be reused thrice without any adverse effect. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.