In this research, a palladium nanocatalyst was synthesised over a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) support and then applied for selective hydrogenation of acetylene in an ethylene-richflow stream. This material displayed a very promising selectivity toward ethylene production with increasing temperature, and also suppressed oligomer formation during acetylene hydrogenation. New operating conditions for selective hydrogenation of acetylene in an ethylene-richflow were introduced. This nanocatalyst gave a considerably higher yield, as high as 93%, than that previously obtained for ethylene production. It was postulated that the governing mechanism for acetylene hydrogenation over 0.5 wt.% Pd/MWCNT was hydrogen transfer. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.