NOVELTY - Production of a desulfurized hydrocarbon feed involves: (a) producing hydrogen-rich reformate from hydrocarbon feed and air in a mini-catalytic partial oxidizer (mini-CPO); and (b) feeding the hydrogen-rich reformate along with the hydrocarbon feed to a hydrogen desulfurizer.    USE - For producing desulfurized hydrocarbon feed; which are useful for producing hydrogen-rich reformate useful as fuel (claimed) for e.g. fuel cell power plants, refineries and other process. The hydrocarbon feed for the production of reformate includes feeds containing natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel and other hydrocarbon fuels.    ADVANTAGE - As the mini-CPO results in the production of hydrogen-rich reformate in the presence of humidified air; but in the absence of introduction of water as in the prior art, the hydrogen desulfurizer does not require hydrogen enrichment to be performed with expensive, power consuming hydrogen blower for the conversion of sulfur compounds to hydrogen sulfide; and reduces the steam or moisture present in the hydrogen desulfurizer by eliminating the introduction of steam into the desulfurizer. This further enhances the hydrogen sulfide adsorption on zinc oxide in the desulfurizer so as to reduce the sulfur content to parts per billion level, while avoiding the rapid deactivation of the catalysts. The mini-CPO runs in a nearly steady state condition, thus obviates the need for controls, and provides any excess hydrogen generated to the fuel stream, thus allowing for its economical consumption. The drier reformate generated from the mini-CPO contains 2.8 mol% steam, as compared to that of the prior art containing 8.8 mol% steam after passing through the water-shift reactor and preferential CO oxidizer. Thus the method reduces the energy for operation while providing improved hydrogen generation, provides the hydrogen containing reformate at lower cost, and reduces the parasitic power in a fuel cell power plant utilizing hydrogen-containing reformate. The method also provides generation of heat (260 - 350degreesC) in the desulfurization process that aids in the process. Although there is CO in the CPO reformate, the heat input from the mini-CPO helps the desulfurizer to run at 343 - 400degreesC and further reduces negative effects of CO on desulfurizer catalyst.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following:    (a) an apparatus (A) for producing desulfurized hydrocarbon feed comprising: a system including a mini-catalytic partial oxidizer (mini-CPO) for producing hydrogen from the hydrocarbon feed and humidified air, a hydrogen desulfurizer (B), and a system for feeding the hydrogen along with the hydrocarbon feed to the hydrogen desulfurizer; and    (b) a system (S1) comprising a source of hydrocarbon feed; a source of air; a source of water; mini-CPO for receiving hydrocarbon feed and humidified air from the sources to produce hydrogen-containing reformate gas; a hydrogen desulfurizer for receiving hydrogen feed from the source of hydrocarbon feed and the hydrogen-containing reformate gas from the mini-CPO, for providing desulfurized hydrocarbon feed; and a fuel processor including a major reformer for receiving the desulfurized hydrocarbon feed and the humidified air and producing hydrogen-containing reformate, and a water gas shift reactor for receiving the hydrogen containing reformate and water and feeding the resultant gas into a preferential carbon monoxide oxidizer for producing hydrogen containing reformate.