Low pressure hydrocracking of refractory feed

Claim 1

A dual bed process for upgrading a refractory hydrocarbon feed, characterized by a Bromine No. greater than about 10 and an aromatics content of at least about 40 weight percent, which comprises contacting a stream of said feed initially in a hydrotreating zone containing a bed of hydrotreating catalyst under reaction conditions which include a pressure within the range of about 100 to about 3000 psig, a temperature between 550° F. and about 850° F. in the presence of between about 2.4 and about 24 moles of hydrogen/mole of hydrocarbon charge; passing the entire effluent from said hydrotreating zone to a hydrocracking zone containing a bed of hydrocracking catalyst comprising an alkali metal non-acidic crystalline aluminosilicate zeolite characterized by an alpha activity of less than about 10, a silica to alumina ratio of at least about 12 and a constraint index within the approximate range of 1 to 12 under reaction conditions which include a pressure within the above stated range, a hydrogen concentration between about 2 and about 23 moles of hydrogen per mole of charge to said latter zone and a temperature between about 650° F. and about 950° F. and recovering a product of reduced pour point directly from the aforenoted dual bed sequential operation.