Manufacture of benzene, toluene and xylene

Claim 1

A process for the manufacture of aromatic hydrocarbons which comprises subjecting a hydrocarbon naphtha to catalytic reforming under conditions to convert naphthenes to aromatic hydrocarbons in a reformate reaction product, distilling said reformate to separate compounds of less than nine carbons from a heavy reformate, contacting said heavy reformate at 800°-1000° F. with a zeolite catalyst having a constraint index of 1 to 12, a silica/alumina ratio above about 12 and reduced acid activity such that less than 2 weight percent of xylene is converted to compounds other than xylene when contacted with said catalyst at 900° F., 200 psig and LHSV of 5, whereby to convert ethylbenzene and alkylbenzenes of more than eight carbon atoms to benzene, toluene and xylene, distilling the product of said contacting to separate benzene, toluene and xylene.