Patent ID: 7846869

Claim:
A process for removing sulfur from a hydrocarbon feed stream in a desulfurization system, wherein said desulfurization system comprises a reactor and a regenerator, said process comprising: (a) contacting a plurality of sorbent particles with a presulfiding agent under presulfiding conditions in said reactor to thereby provide a plurality of at least partly sulfided sorbent particles; (b) introducing at least a portion of said at least partly sulfided sorbent particles into said regenerator; (c) withdrawing at least a portion of said at least partly sulfided sorbent particles from said regenerator; (d) returning at least a portion of said at least partly sulfided sorbent particles withdrawn from said regenerator to said reactor; (e) repeating steps (a) through (d) until said at least partly sulfided sorbent particles introduced into said regenerator have an average sulfur loading that is at least 15 percent greater than the initial average sulfur loading of said sorbent particles prior to said contacting of step (a); and (f) subsequent to step (e), contacting said at least partly sulfided sorbent particles with said hydrocarbon feed stream under desulfurization conditions in said reactor to thereby provide a sulfur-depleted effluent stream and a sulfur-laden sorbent, wherein the average sulfur loading of said at least partly sulfided sorbent particles introduced into said regenerator in step (b) is within 5 percent of the average sulfur loading of the at least partly sulfided sorbent particles withdrawn from said regenerator in step (c).