Patent ID: 7854835

Claim:
A method of desulfurizing a hydrocarbon-containing fluid, said method comprising the steps of: (a) contacting said hydrocarbon-containing fluid with solid particles in a desulfurization zone under desulfurization conditions sufficient to remove sulfur from said hydrocarbon-containing fluid and provide sulfur-loaded solid particles; (b) dense phase transporting said sulfur-loaded solid particles from said desulfurization zone to a regenerator feed surge vessel; (c) dilute phase transporting said sulfur-loaded solid particles from said regenerator feed surge vessel to a regeneration zone; (d) contacting said sulfur-loaded solid particles with an oxygen-containing regeneration stream in said regeneration zone under regeneration conditions sufficient to remove sulfur from said sulfur-loaded solid particles, thereby providing oxidized solid particles; (e) contacting said oxidized solid particles with a hydrogen-containing reducing stream in a reducing zone under reducing conditions sufficient to reduce said oxidized solid particles, thereby providing reduced solid particles; and (f) dense phase transporting said reduced solid particles from said reducing zone to said desulfurization zone.