Desulfurization of gases

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR DESULFURIZING HYDROCARBON GASES CONTAINING H2S AND ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS WHICH COMPRISES CONTINUOUSLY FLOWING BY GRAVITY A CONTIGUOUS FLUENT MASS OF HOT SPHERICAL PEBBLES COMPRISING A CATALYST WHICH PROMOTES DECOMPOSITION OF SAID SULFUR COMPOUNDS AND AN ACCEPTOR FOR SULFUR THRU A SERIES OF SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY EXTENDING ZONES COMPRISING A PEBBLE HEATING AND DESULFURING ZONE, A GASDESULFURIZING ZONE POSITIONED AT A LOWER LEVEL THAN SAID PEBBLE HEATING AND DESULFURING ZONE, AND A RELATIVELY NARROW INTERCONNECTING ZONE, EACH OF SAID ZONES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY FILLED WITH SAID CONTIGUOUS MASS OF PEBBLES AND PERMITTING RELATIVELY UNRESTRICTED FLOW OF PEBBLES THERETHRU, REGULATING THE FLOW OF PEBBLES THROUGH SAID ZONES AT A POINT BELOW AND EXTERNALLY TO SAID GAS DESULFURIZING ZONE, CONTINUOUSLY CONTACTING THAT SECTION OF SAID CONTIGUOUS MASS OF PEBBLES FLOWING THRU SAID GAS-DESULFURIZING ZONE WITH A STREAM OF SULFUR-BEARING HYDROCARBON GASES SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF GASEOUS OXIDANT WHEREBY SAID GASES ARE HEATED TO A TEMPERATURE OF BETWEEN ABOUT 400* AND 900* F. SOLELY BY HEAT EXCHANGE WITH SAID PEBBLES AND SUBSTANTIALLY DESULFURIZED AND WHEREBY SAID PEBBLES ARE SULFURIZED, CONTINUOUSLY CONTACTING THAT SECTION OF SAID CONTIGUOUS MASS OF PEBBLES FLOWING THRU SAID HEATING AND DESULFURING ZONE WITH A STREAM OF OXYGEN-CONTAINING GAS AT A TEMPERATURE OF BETWEEN ABOUT 750* AND 1200* F. AND AT A FLOW RATE REGULATED TO INSURE HEATING OF SAID PEBBLES TO A TEMPERATURE SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE A PREDETERMINED GAS-DESULFURIZING TEMPERATURE AND TO INSURE SUBSTANTIAL REMOVAL OF SULFUR FROM SAID PEBBLES, CONTINUOUSLY REMOVING PEBBLES FROM THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID GASDESULFURIZING ZONE, CONTINUOUSLY INTRODUCING PEBPLES TO THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID PEBBLE HEATING AND DESULFURING ZONE, AND RECOVERING THE DESULFURIZED GASES.