Preparation of components for refinery blending of transportation fuels

A process for reducing the sulfur and nitrogen content of a distillate feedstock to produce refinery transportation fuel or blending components for refinery transportation fuel wherein the feedstock contains heteroaromatic sulfur-containing and nitrogen-containing organic impurities which process comprises:

• (a) contacting the feedstock with an oxygen-containing gas in an oxidation zone at oxidation conditions in the presence of catalyst comprising a Group VIII metal present in the catalyst in an amount ranging from about 2 percent to about 20 percent based on the total weight of the catalyst selected from the group consisting of the d-transition elements in the Periodic Table having atomic number from 21 to 30 inclusive, and a basic support selected from the group consisting of alkali oxides and alkaline earth oxides to convert the sulfur-containing and nitrogen-containing organic impurities to oxygen-containing sulfur and nitrogen-containing compounds;
• and
• (b) separating a portion of the oxygen-containing sulfur and nitrogen-containing compounds from the oxidation zone effluent as by distillation to a cut point temperature by which 90 percent of the sulfur-containing compounds in the feedstock would boil thereby rejecting a portion of the oxygen-containing sulfur compounds as residue, and recover a distillate effluent having a reduced amount of the sulfur and nitrogen-containing compounds and a TAN number of less than 0.20. KOH/g.