GB719231A - Improvements relating to the desulphurisation of petroleum hydrocarbons - Google Patents

Abstract

In a hydrocatalytic desulphurization process a cracked naphtha of which at least 90 per cent. boils below 200 DEG C. is mixed with a straight-run naphtha of substantially the same boiling range in such proportions that on passing the mixture over a sulphur-resistant dehydrogenation-hydrogenation catalyst under controlled conditions of temperature and pressure, an amount of hydrogen is obtained by dehydrogenation of naphthenes contained in the mixture not substantially in excess of that required to convert organically combined sulphur contained in the mixture into hydrogen sulphide and to maintain a circulation of hydrogen sufficient to keep the mixture in the vapour phase without the need for hydrogen from an extraneous source. The catalyst may be a mixture of the oxides of cobalt and molybdenum, or a chemical compound of cobalt, molybdenum and oxygen, either alone or distended on a support, such as alumina. The process may be carried out at a pressure below 150 p.s.i.ga. at a temperature between 750 DEG and 830 DEG F., and by passing the mixture over the catalyst at a space velocity of 0.5 to 3.0 v/v/hour of liquid feedstock. Specifications 654,152 and 708,244 are referred to.