Patent ID: 6416658
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: B01D,C10G

Abstract:
In a catalytic distillation hydrodesulfurization process comprising:(a) feeding a naphtha boiling range hydrocarbon stream containing organic sulfur compounds and hydrogen to a distillation column reactor; (b) concurrently in said distillation column reactor (i) separating said naphtha into a light boiling range naphtha and a heavy boiling range naphtha (ii) contacting a fraction of said naphtha and hydrogen with a hydrodesulfurization catalyst to selectively react the organic sulfur compounds therein with said hydrogen to form H2S; (c) recovering a portion of said light boiling range naphtha wherein said light boiling range naphtha contains recombinant mercaptans; and (d) removing said heavier boiling range naphtha from said distillation column reactor; wherein the improvement comprises contacting said portion of said light boiling range naphtha with hydrogen in countercurrent flow in a fixed bed of hydrodesulfurization catalyst to reduce the recombinant mercaptans therein.