In order to remove the sulfur compounds in jet fuels to produce ultra-clean fuels e.g., for fuel cell applications in aircraft (auxiliary power units, APUs), an integrated desulfurization process was developed, which combines a fixed-bed adsorption with a membrane separation. The present study focuses on the optimizing the fixed-bed adsorption with an Al2O3-based adsorbent. A sulfur level of 10 ppmw is required by the fuel cell system. 1 g of the adsorbent is capable of processing 7.43 ml of a 50% (vol.) light fraction of Jet A-1 with 440 ppmw under optimum operating conditions. The maximum sulfur adsorption capacity is approximately 2.51 mg S/g of adsorbent. The sulfur-loaded adsorbent can be regenerated by air rather than by hydrogen-containing gasses at an elevated temperature of 500 degrees C. However, the regenerated adsorbent only maintains a stable cyclic capacity of 2.01 mg S/g-ads over 70 adsorption-desorption cycles. In addition, the adsorbent bed dimensions with regard to bed length, bed diameter and particle size were optimized to obtain the desired sulfur adsorption capacity without encountering a significant pressure drop across the adsorption column. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.