Patent ID: 8314277

Claim:
A process for saturating benzene in a feed stream containing benzene and sulfur-compound poisons for a saturation catalyst comprising steps: 1) sending said feed stream through a sulfur guard bed to remove said sulfur compounds from the feed stream to produce a stream containing benzene and having a reduced sulfur content, wherein said sulfur guard bed comprises sorbents comprising CuO supported on an alumina substrate and about 0.001 to 2.5% by weight of a chloride additive, wherein said sulfur sorbents are prepared by steps: i) mixing basic copper carbonates CuCO 3 .Cu(OH) 2 , alumina, and water to form beads, ii) adding NaCl or KCl to the beads of step (i); iii) activating the beads of step (ii) by heat treating at a temperature ranging from 280 to 500° C. to form said sorbent used for step (1); and 2) saturating benzene in said stream containing benzene and having a reduced sulfur content of step (1) in the presence of said saturation catalyst to produce a saturation product.