Hydrodesulfurization - Process Chemistry

Process Chemistry

Hydrogenation is a class of chemical reactions in which the net result is the addition of hydrogen (H). Hydrogenolysis is a type of hydrogenation and results in the cleavage of the C-X chemical bond, where C is a carbon atom and X is a sulfur (S), nitrogen (N) or oxygen (O) atom. The net result of a hydrogenolysis reaction is the formation of C-H and H-X chemical bonds. Thus, hydrodesulfurization is a hydrogenolysis reaction. Using ethanethiol (C2H5SH), a sulfur compound present in some petroleum products, as an example, the hydrodesulfurization reaction can be simply expressed as

Ethanethiol + Hydrogen Ethane + Hydrogen sulfide
C2H5SH + H2 C2H6 + H2S

For the mechanistic aspects of, and the catalysts used in this reaction see the section catalysts and mechanisms

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