Manufacture of aromatic compounds

Claim 1

In a process for isomerizing the xylene content of a charge consisting essentially of eight carbon atom aromatic hydrocarbon compounds which mixture contains xylene, and ethylbenzene by contact at conversion conditions under hydrogen pressure with a catalyst comprising a zeolite having a silica/alumina ratio greater than 12 and a constraint index of 1 to 12, the improvement resulting in conversion of ethylbenzene to benzene which comprises adding to the charge 1 to 25 weight percent based on total charge of paraffin hydrocarbons having 3-12 carbon atoms and having no branching in excess of one methyl group on any carbon atom whereby the charge consists essentially of said eight carbon atom aromatic compounds and said paraffinic hydrocarbons, maintaining the conversion temperature between about 600° F. and about 800° F. and using such catalyst comprising a zeolite of reduced acidity 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.