TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The catalyst has a weight ratio of platinum to palladium of 100:1-1.3:1, preferably 20:1-1.5:1. The catalyst has a metal loading of platinum and palladium of 0.3-5 wt.%, preferably 0.5-5 wt.%. The catalyst has a metal loading of platinum of 0.3-5 wt.%, preferably 0.5-1 wt.%. The catalyst has a metal loading of palladium of 0.01-1 wt.%, preferably 0.1-0.5 wt.%. The catalyst has a metal loading of tin of 0.1-15 wt.%. The catalyst further comprises an additional active metal comprising zinc, cobalt, molybdenum, rhenium, copper, iron, nickel and/or titanium. The support comprises a support material comprising silica, alumina, silica/alumina, pyrogenic silica, high purity silica, titania, zirconia, carbon, activated carbon and/or zeolite. The support material is present at 25-99 wt.%, based on the total weight of the catalyst composition. The support material further comprises a support modifier present at 0.1-50 wt.%, based on the total weight of the catalyst composition. The support modifier is alkaline earth metal oxides, alkali metal oxides, alkaline earth metal metasilicates, alkali metal metasilicates, group IIB metal oxides, group IIB metal metasilicates, group IIIB metal oxides and/or group IIIB metal metasilicates. The support modifier is oxides and metasilicates of sodium, potassium, magnesium, scandium, yttrium and/or zinc. The support modifier is tungsten trioxide, zirconium dioxide, niobium pentoxide, tantalum pentoxide, aluminum oxide, boron trioxide, phosphorus pentoxide, antimony trioxide, molybdenum trioxide, iron(III) oxide, chromium(III) oxide, vanadium pentoxide, manganese dioxide, cupric oxide, cobalt oxide and/or bismuth oxide.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The process further comprises gasifying a carbonaceous material to produce components of the feedstock, where the carbonaceous material is oil, coal, natural gas or biomass. The hydrogenation conditions include a temperature of 125-350 degrees C, a pressure of 10-3000 kPa and a hydrogen to acetic acid molar ratio of greater than 2:1. EXAMPLE - Catalyst comprising calcium silicate/silicon dioxide support (having platinum (0.7 wt.%), palladium (0.1 wt.%) and tin (1.5 wt.%)) was placed in reactor vessels and dried by heating at 120 degrees C. Feedstock comprising acetic acid vapor was charged to the reactor vessel along with hydrogen and helium as a carrier gas with an average combined gas hourly space velocity of 2430/hour, at 250 degrees C, pressure of 2500 kPa, and mole ratio of hydrogen to acetic acid of 8:1 to obtain ethanol.