Maintaining catalytic activity of sodium aluminosilicates

Claim 1

A process for reducing the pour point of a was containing mineral oil to a predetermined value which comprises: contacting a mixture of said mineral oil and added water or a water precursor with a catalyst having an alpha value less than about 10, in the presence or absence of added gas, under conversion conditions effective to reduce the pour point of said oil to said predetermined value, said catalyst having been prepared from a composition comprising a precursor crystalline aluminosilicate having a silica-alumina ratio greater than 12, a constraint index between about 1 and about 12 and an alpha value greater than about 20, said preparation including steaming said precursor to reduce its alpha value to not less than about 10 and ion-exchanging said steamed precursor with an alkali metal cation under conditions effective to further reduce its alpha value to less than about 10, said water or said water precursor being present in an amount effective to reduce the conversion temperature required to effect the reduction of the pour point of said mineral oil to said predetermined value in the absence of said water or said water precursor.