Definition of hydrodesulfurization
: the process of chemically removing sulfur from raw petroleum products (such as crude oil or natural gas) in order to make them more efficient and reduce combustion byproducts
- Decades ago oil refineries adopted a process called hydrodesulfurization … to strip sulfur atoms from oil molecules. Sulfurous fractions are mixed with hydrogen and a cobalt-molybdenum catalyst, yielding hydrogen sulfide.
- —Jr Minkel, Scientific American, February 2006
