Patent ID: 7510648

Claim:
A method for producing a desulfurized liquid hydrocarbon, comprising: identifying distillation characteristics of a liquid hydrocarbon; selecting desulfurization conditions based on the distillation characteristics of the liquid hydrocarbon; and contacting the liquid hydrocarbon with a metallic desulfurizing agent under the desulfurization conditions to obtain the desulfurized liquid hydrocarbon; wherein: selecting the desulfurization conditions comprises selecting conditions satisfying the following formula (1): 1.06Ã— P ope 0.44 <T ope /T 50 <1.78Ã— P ope 0.22 (1) wherein T ope represents operation temperature in Â° C.; P ope represents operation pressure in MPa; and T 50 represents a temperature per 50 percent recovered as determined by the â€œtest method for distillation at atmospheric pressureâ€ provided in the standard JIS K2254 â€œPetroleum productsâ€”Determination of distillation characteristicsâ€ as revised in 1998.