In the ripening and senescence of fruits, ethylene plays a major role and therefore, its control is essential to extend the shelf-life of these products. In this study, the kinetics of catalytic oxidation of ethylene was experimentally determined for a catalyst of gold nanoparticles supported on cerium oxides and the use of this was simulated in a perforated rigid packaging system for ‘Cavendish’ bananas. According to the simulations performed, for 1 kg of fruit in the active packaging 5.931 g of the obtained catalyst are needed to reduce 99% of the ethylene concentration at 12°C and with constant concentrations of 0.072 of O 2 and 0.178 of CO 2 (in molar fraction).