The present invention is a method of removing sulphur from a hydrocarbon
feed stream, comprising the steps of: (a) dissolving sodium in a liquid
solvent to form a solution containing sodium atoms; (b) combining the
liquid solution from step (a) with a liquid hydrocarbon feed containing
an organosulfur component to form a combined stream at a temperature of
addition and at a pressure near or above the vapor pressure of the
solvent at the temperature of addition; (c) reacting the combined stream
for sufficient reaction time and at sufficient reaction temperature to
form a modified composition comprising one or more sulfur-containing
species and less of the organosulfur species than had been present in the
hydrocarbon feed; (d) extracting a portion of the sulfur-containing
species from the modified composition.