Process of regenerating a spent nickel sulfide hydrofining catalyst

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR REGENERATING SPENT NICKEL SULFIDE HYDROFINING CATALYST, THAT COMPRISES PASSING A STREAM OF HYDROGEN CONTAINING GASES AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE THROUGH A BED OF SPENT NICKEL SULFIDE CATALYST, SEPARATING LIQUID AND GASEOUS COMPONENTS OF THE MIXTURE LEAVING SAID CATALYST, AND REMOVING HYDROGEN SULFIDE FROM SAID GASEOUS COMPONENTS, THE IMPROVEMENT THAT COMPRISES CONTINUOUSLY RECYCLING THE HYDROGEN SULFIDE FREE GASES THROUGH SAID CATALYST, WHILE SUPPLEMENTING THE HYDROGEN COMPONENT THEREOF BY ADDITION OF STEAM WHICH DISSOCIATES ON CONTACT WITH SAID CATALYST FORMING HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN, THE ADDITION OF STEAM BEING AT A RATE, WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 1 VOLUME OF STEAM TO EACH 5 TO 15 VOLUMES OF RECYCLING GASES AS MEASURED AS S. T. P. CONDITIONS, TO MAINTAIN A SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM HYDROGEN CONCENTRATION IN SAID GASES.