Patent ID: 8735616

Claim:
A process to hydrogenate an oil feedstock, the process comprising the steps of: introducing a mixture of the oil feedstock and hydrogen into at least one high shear device, wherein the at least one high shear device comprises at least two generators, wherein each of the at least two generators comprises a cylindrical, toothed rotor, and a complementarily-shaped stator; and subjecting the mixture to a shear rate of at least 20,000 s −1 , wherein the shear rate is defined as the tip speed divided by the shear gap, and wherein the tip speed is defined as πDn, where D is the diameter of the rotor and n is the frequency of revolution, thus forming a dispersion in the high shear device whereby the hydrogen reacts with the oil feedstock to saturate at least a portion of the oil feedstock, whereby the dispersion comprises hydrogen gas bubbles having an average bubble size of less than about 5 μm.