The applications of H-1 and C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and two-dimensional H-1/C-13 NMR spectroscopy have been shown to be useful techniques for the qualitative and quantitative characterization of hydrotreated recycled lube oils. The addition of hydrogen to aromatic and alkene hydrocarbons can be quantitatively and selectively measured. The decrease of oxygen/nitrogen/sulfur species can also be inferred from the reduction of specific resonances in the NMR spectra. Treated recycled lube oil was subsequently hydrotreated with Pd catalysts deposited by either atomic layer deposition (ALD) or incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) on a SiO2/Al2O3 support. In both cases, much lower hydrogenation temperatures were required than had been observed with typical NiMo or CoMo on Al2O3. In addition, the ALD-deposited catalyst was more effective for the reduction of aromatics and heteroatom components than the IWI catalyst. The lube oil fractions were of high purity (low aromaticity and low heteroatom content) even at low reaction severity.