Patent ID: 8158841

Claim:
A hydrotreating method, wherein a synthetic hydrocarbon oil generated by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and containing 50% or more by mass of normal paraffin having 4 to 100 carbon number, 0.01% or more by mass of oxygen-containing compounds, by the oxygen mass ratio on an anhydrous basis, and 0.1% or more by mass of olefins and having a boiling point range of 30 to 360° C. is treated, using a catalyst in which nickel and optionally one or both of platinum and palladium are contained on a support comprising diatomaceous earth and optionally one or more of silica-magnesia, alumina and activated carbon, wherein the catalyst has a specific surface area of 100 m 2 /g or more, and a pore volume of from 0.05 to 1.2 mL/g under conditions of a hydrogen partial pressure of 0.1 to 20 MPa, a liquid hourly space velocity of 0.1 to 3 h −1 , a hydrogen/oil ratio of 50 to 2000 L/L and a gasification rate of 10% or less by mass, thereby removing the olefin and the oxygen-containing compound, wherein the nickel is contained in the support in an amount of 45-75% by mass, in terms of metal, on a catalyst basis, and the synthetic hydrocarbon oil is treated at a temperature from 150 to 250° C.