An operational analysis for a liquid phase catalytic exchange column was carried out by the model equations, composed of a material balance and equilibrium relationships for a scrubbing and catalyst bed. The solutions were determined by using the Newton-Raphson method and the parametric investigations were simulated for the effect of the operating variables on the detritiation factor. It was observed that the maximum detritiation performance could be obtained at certain temperature conditions by considering the flow ratio of the water vapor to the given hydrogen stream in the catalyst bed and the water vapor-liquid equilibrium in the scrubbing bed. The optimum operating temperature should be chosen at the larger detritiation conditions providing a reasonable processing flow rate. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.