Patent ID: 7166209

Claim:
A process for hydroprocessing a hydrocarbon feedstock, comprising the steps of: providing a hydrocarbon feed having an initial sulfur content; providing a first hydrogen-containing gas; feeding said hydrocarbon feed and said first hydrogen-containing gas cocurrently to a first hydroprocessing zone so as to provide a first hydrocarbon product; providing a plurality of additional hydroprocessing zones including a final zone and an upstream zone; feeding said first hydrocarbon product cocurrently with a recycled gas to said upstream zone so as to provide an intermediate hydrocarbon product; and feeding said intermediate hydrocarbon product cocurrently with a second hydrogen-containing gas to said final zone so as to provide a final hydrocarbon product having a final sulfur content which is less than said initial sulfur content wherein said final zone also produces a hydrogen-containing gas phase, and further comprising feeding said hydrogen-containing gas phase to said upstream zone as said recycled gas.