A structured catalyst support was developed based on FeCrAl alloy sintered microfibers (SMF) via multiple stage thermal oxidation in air for 1 h at 930 degrees C, 1 h at 960 degrees C and 2 h at 990 degrees C. The procedure resulted in the formation of a forest of predominantly a-alumina whiskers (200 nm in height and 100 nm apart). Palladium deposition and reduction yielded 0.5 wt.% Pd/SMF with 20 nm nanoparticle size. The catalyst was tested in three-phase hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol, and due to its pore structure allowed eliminating internal mass transfer limitations. The developed support can be beneficial to catalytic reactions suffering from mass transfer limitations and catalyst deactivation via pore mouth blocking. As compared to other methods of structured catalyst preparation, the thermal oxidation procedure is simple, fast and environmentally benign, and eliminates problems associated with poor adhesion of traditional washcoated layers of powdered catalysts or supports. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.