Catalytic desulfurization of petroleum hydrocarbons

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE HYDROCATALYTIC DESULPHURIZATION OF A SULPHUR-AND-NAPHTHENE CONTAINING CRACKED PETROLEUM NAPHTHA, WHICH PROCESS IS SELFSUPPORTING WITH RESPECT TO THE HYDROGEN NEEDED AND IS PRODUCTIVE OF A DESULPHURIZED CRACKED NAPHTHA HAVING, EXCEPT FOR LOWERED SULPHUR CONTENT, PROPERTIES AND BOILING RANGE SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME AS THE FEEDSTOCK, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF: PASSING THE SULPHUR-AND-NAPHTHENE CONTAINING CRACKED NAPHTHA AT A SPACE VELOCITY OF FROM ABOUT 0.5 TO ABOUT 1.0 V./V./HR. TO A REACTION ZONE AND CONTACTING THE CRACKED NAPHTHA THEREIN WITH A DEHYDROGENATION-HYDROGENATION CATALYST AND WITH HYDROGEN DERIVED SOLELY FROM THE CRACKED NAPHTHA, SAID CATALYST BEING RESISTANT TO SULPHUR POISONING AND COMBINING ACTIVITY FOR THE DEHYDROGENATION OF NAPHTHENES IN SAID CRACKED NAPHTHA WITH ACTIVITY FOR THE HYDROGENATION OF ORGANICALLY COMBINED SULPHUR IN SAID CRACKED NAPHTHA TO HYDROGEN SULPHIDE; ESTABLISHING A TEMPERATURE IN SAID ZONE IN THE RANGE OF FROM BETWEEN ABOUT 780* F. TO ABOUT 800* F. AT WHICH HYDROGEN IS PRODUCED CONTINUOUSLY FROM SAID CRACKED NAPHTHA; ESTABLISHING A PRESSURE IN SAID ZONE IN THE RANGE OF FROM ABOUT 25 TO ABOUT 75 LBS./SQ. IN. GAUGE, THE TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE ESTABLISHED WITHIN SAID RANGES BEING CORRELATED TO PROVIDE, FROM THE DEHYDROGENATION OF NAPHTHENES CONTAINED IN SAID CRACKED NAPHTHA, HYDROGEN IN AN AMOUNT AT LEAST EQUAL TO BUT NOT SUBSTANTIALLY IN EXCESS OF THAT REQUIRED TO EFFECT CONVERSION OF SAID ORGANIC SULPHUR COMPOUNDS TO HYDROGEN SULPHIDE AND TO SUPPLY THE HYDROGEN REQUIREMENTS IN SAID REACTION ZONE; SEPARATING A HYDROGEN-RICH GAS MIXTURE FROM THE TREATED PRODUCT, RECYCLING SAID HYDROGEN-RICH GAS MIXTURE TO SAID REACTION ZONE AT A RATE IN THE RANGE OF FROM ABOUT 1000 TO ABOUT 4000 CU. FT./BBL. AT WHICH THE NECESSARY PARTIAL PRESSURE OF HYDROGEN WILL BE MAINTAINED IN SAID ZONE, SAID MIXTURE CONSTITUTING THE WHOLE OF THE HYDROGEN SUPPLIED TO SAID ZONE; AND, RECOVERING THE DESIRED CRACKED NAPHTHA PRODUCT FROM THE RESIDUE OF SAID SEPARATING OPERATION.