Treatment of hydrocarbon fractions

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE TREATMENT OF DISTILLATE PETROLEUM FRACTIONS BOILING WITHIN THE RANGE 150-450*C. TO LOWER THE POUR POINT AT LEAST 5*F. WITHOUT MATERIAL REDUCTION IN THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND DIESEL INDEX OF SAID DISTILLATE FRACTIONS, COMPRISING CONTACTING THE DISTILLATE FRACTION AS FEEDSTOCK IN A TREATING ZONE AND IN THE PRESENCE OF HYDROGEN AND OF HALOGEN ADDED TO THE TREATING ZONE IN AN AMOUNT FROM ABOUT 0.001 TO 1% BY WEIGHT OF FEEDSTOCK WITH A CATALYST COMPRISING A PLATINUM GROUP METAL ON A REFRACTORY OXIDE SUPPORT, THE HYDROGEN TO HYDROCARBON MOLE RATIO BEING FROM 1 TO 1 TO 20 TO 1; MAINTAINING A SELECTED TEMPERATURE AND A SELECTED SPACE VELOCITY IN SAID ZONE, SAID SELECTED TEMPERATURE IN SAID ZONE BEING MAINTAINED AT LEAST AT 700*F. BUT NOT HIGHER THAN ABOUT 950*F. AND BEING A TEMPERATURE AT WHICH, AT SAID SELECTED SPACE VELOCITY, NOT MORE THAN 20% WT. OF THE FEEDSTOCK IS CONVERTED TO MATERIAL BOILING BELOW 150*C. AND SAID SELECTED SPACE VELOCITY BEING AT LEAST 0.01 V./V./HR. BUT NOT HIGHER THAN 9,0 V./V./HR. AT WHICH, AT SAID SELECTED TEMPERATURE, NOT MORE THAN 20% WT. OF THE FEEDSTOCK IS CONVERTED TO MATERIAL BOILING BELOW 150*C.; MAINTAINING A SELECTED PRESSURE IN SAID ZONE IN THE RANGE 100-1500 P.S.I.G.A., SAID SELECTED TEMPERATURE AND SAID SELECTED SPACE VELOCITY BEING CORRELATED TO REDUCE THE POUR POINT OF THE FEEDSTOCK SUCH THAT THE POUR POINT OF THE MATERIAL OF THE TREATED DISTILLATE FRACTION BOILING ABOVE 150*C. IS AT LEAST 5*F. LOWER THAN THE POUR POINT OF THE FEEDSTOCK, AND RECOVERING THE TREATED DISTILLATE FRACTION.