Simple sweetening is adequate for many purposes, but other methods must be used if the total sulfur content of the fuel is to be reduced. When solutizers, such as potassium isobutyrate and sodium cresylate, are added to caustic soda, the solubility of the higher mercaptans is increased and they can be extracted from the oil. In order to remove traces of hydrogen sulfide and alkyl phenols, the oil is first pretreated with caustic soda in a packed column or other mixing device. The mixture is allowed to settle and the product water washed before storage.

Clay treatment

Some natural clays, activated by roasting or treatment with steam or acids, have been used for many years to remove traces of impurities. The phenomenon is similar to that described under the adsorption process: the clay retains the longer chain molecules within its highly porous structure.

Clay treatment removes gum and gum-forming materials from thermally cracked gasolines in the vapour phase. A more economical procedure, however, is to add small quantities of synthetic antioxidants to the gasoline. These prevent or greatly retard gum formation. Clay treatment of lubricating oils is widely practiced to remove resins and other colour bodies remaining after solvent extraction. The treatment may be by contact—that is, clay added directly to the oil, with the mixture heated and the clay filtered off—or by percolation, in which the heated oil is passed through a large bed of active clay adsorbent. The spent clay is often discarded, although it can be regenerated by roasting. However, the problem of dealing with spent clay, now designated as a hazardous waste in many places, has led many refiners to replace clay treatment facilities with a mild hydrogenation process.

Hydrogen treatment

Hydrogen processes, commonly known as hydrotreating, are the most common processes for removing sulfur and nitrogen impurities. The oil is combined with high-purity hydrogen, vapourized, and then passed over a catalyst such as tungsten, nickel, or a mixture of cobalt and molybdenum oxides supported on an alumina base. Operating temperatures are usually between 260 and 425 °C (500 and 800 °F) at pressures of 14 to 70 bars (1.4 to 7 MPa), or 200 to 1,000 psi. Operating conditions are set to facilitate the desired level of sulfur removal without promoting any change to the other properties of the oil.

The sulfur in the oil is converted to hydrogen sulfide and the nitrogen to ammonia. The hydrogen sulfide is removed from the circulating hydrogen stream by absorption in a solution such as diethanolamine. The solution can then be heated to remove the sulfide and reused. The hydrogen sulfide recovered is useful for manufacturing elemental sulfur of high purity. The ammonia is recovered and either converted to elemental nitrogen and hydrogen, burned in the refinery fuel-gas system, or processed into agricultural fertilizers.

Molecular sieves

Molecular sieves are also used to purify petroleum products, since they have a strong affinity for polar compounds such as water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and mercaptans. Sieves are prepared by dehydration of an aluminosilicate such as zeolite. The petroleum product is passed through a bed of zeolite for a predetermined period depending on the impurity to be removed. The adsorbed contaminants may later be expelled from the sieve by purging with a gas stream at temperatures between 200 and 315 °C (400 and 600 °F). The frequent cycling of the molecular sieve from adsorb to desorb operations is usually fully automated.