Normann's hydrogenation process made it possible to stabilize affordable whale oil or fish oil for human consumption, a practice kept secret to avoid consumer distaste.

If no solid fats are added to the vegetable oils, the latter undergo a full or partial hydrogenation process to solidify them.

The hydrogenation process involves "sparging" the oil at high temperature and pressure with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst, typically a powdered nickel compound.

The metal, which soaks up hydrogen, is frequently used as a catalyst in hydrogenation processes.

The hydrogenation process often uses greater than 1 atmosphere of H, usually conveyed from the cylinders and sometimes augmented by "booster pumps".

In many homogeneous hydrogenation processes, the metal binds to both components to give an intermediate alkene-metal(H) complex.

The French chemist Paul Sabatier is considered the father of the hydrogenation process.

In the partial hydrogenation process, some of these are transformed into trans fatty acids.

Other transition metals such as platinum, palladium, and nickel can also act as catalysts in the hydrogenation process.

The key to the all-important second step, the hydrogenation process, was the reactor.