Abstract: Fatty alcoholsare important raw materials for the synthesis lubricants, detergents and surfactants. The oil hydrogenation method has become one of the most promising methods for the preparation of fatty alcohols due to its advantages of environmental friendliness and wide source of raw materials. The core of selective hydrogenation of oil to prepare fatty alcohols is high selectivity, and the catalyst is the keyto ensure high selectivity and reaction rate. Because the catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of natural oils or model compounds (such as fatty acids) will first generate extremely unstable intermediate fatty aldehydes, fatty aldehydes will be hydrogenated into stable fatty alcohols or decarbonylated to alkanes, and excessive hydrogenation of fatty alcohols will also generate growth chain alkanes, which requires the catalyst to have a weak adsorption capacity for the oxygen atoms of the carbonyl group in the fatty aldehyde and the hydroxyl group in the fatty alcohol.Based on this, the heterogeneous catalysts commonly used in oil hydrogenation were introduced from three aspects: active metal, metal promoter and carrier,and the mechanism of oil selective hydrogenation, and the methodsto improve the selectivity of fatty alcoholswere discussed. A new idea for the design of catalysts for preparationof fatty alcoholby oil selective hydrogenation was proposed.

Key words: fatty alcohol, heterogeneous catalyst, reactive metal, metal accelerators, carrier