A process for converting naphtha to predominantly ethane comprising contacting a naphtha stream with a zeolitic catalyst comprising a noble metal and hydrogen to produce a light paraffin stream comprising ethane and propane; wherein the catalyst comprises at least about 0.005 wt % noble metal at a ratio of hydrogen to hydrocarbon of less than about 5. In a predominantly propane mode, the catalyst comprises about 0.005 wt % noble metal and operates at a reaction temperature of no more than about 450° C. The process can be switched between modes depending on the desires of the operator.

Disclosed are processes for conversion of a feedstock comprising C.sub.8+ aromatic hydrocarbons to lighter aromatic products in which the feedstock and optionally hydrogen are contacted in the presence of the catalyst composition under conversion conditions effective to dealkylate and transalkylate said C.sub.8+ aromatic hydrocarbons to produce said lighter aromatic products comprising benzene, toluene and xylene. The catalyst composition comprises a zeolite, a first metal, and a second metal, and is treated with a source of sulfur and/or a source of steam.

Methods and corresponding catalysts are provided for transalkylation of 1-ring (C.sub.9+) aromatic compounds, such as transalkylation to form para-xylene and/or other xylenes. Suitable catalysts include molecular sieves having a 3-D 12-member ring framework structure, molecular sieves having a 1-D 12-member ring framework structure, acidic microporous materials with a pore channel size of at least 6.0 Angstroms, and/or molecular sieves having a MWW framework structure. The methods include performing transalkylation where at least a portion of the feed to the transalkylation process is in the liquid phase. Optionally, the transalkylation conditions can correspond to conditions where a continuous liquid phase is present within the reaction environment. Some embodiments include liquid phase transalkylation processes for naphthalene-containing feedstock streams.

The application relates to processes and systems that use a furfural compound for producing five-membered carbocyclic rings that are unsaturated, such as cyclopentene and cyclopentadiene. Examples methods for conversion of furfural compounds may include converting a furfural compound to at least a five-membered, saturated carbocyclic ring, and converting the five-membered, saturated carbocyclic ring in a presence of a catalyst to at least a five-membered, unsaturated carbocyclic ring.

Disclosed are processes for conversion of a feedstock comprising C.sub.8+ aromatic hydrocarbons to lighter aromatic products in which the feedstock and optionally hydrogen are contacted in the presence of the catalyst composition under conversion conditions effective to dealkylate and transalkylate said C.sub.8+ aromatic hydrocarbons to produce said lighter aromatic products comprising benzene, toluene and xylene. The catalyst composition comprises a zeolite, a first metal, and a second metal, and is treated with a source of sulfur and/or a source of steam.

Para-xylene production processes are disclosed, with such processes being integrated with extractive distillation or other separation to effectively separate, for example to remove and recover, ethylbenzene and other components that co-boil with the isomers of xylene. This allows for xylene isomerization, downstream of the separation of para-xylene from its other isomers, to be operated under milder conditions (e.g., liquid phase, absence of added hydrogen) without the need for ethylbenzene conversion. The associated decreased yields of byproducts such as light gases and non-aromatic hydrocarbons, together with the generation of purified ethylbenzene having value for styrene monomer production, can significantly improve overall process economics.

The present disclosure provides an aromatization catalyst, a preparation method, a regeneration method and an aromatization method thereof. The preparation method comprises steps of: mixing a zeolite molecular sieve with a binder to obtain a catalyst precursor; the catalyst precursor is successively subjected to an ion exchange modification and a first modification treatment, and then subjected to a hydrothermal treatment, and further subjected to active metal loading and a second modification treatment, to obtain the aromatization catalyst. The aromatization catalyst has good carbon deposition resistance and high aromatization activity, and enables an aromatization reaction to be completed under mild conditions, and has high aromatic selectivity, and the liquid yield is above 98.5%.

Methods for producing supported catalysts containing a transition metal and a bound zeolite base are disclosed. These methods employ a step of impregnating the bound zeolite base with the transition metal, fluorine, and high loadings of chlorine. The resultant high chlorine content supported catalysts have improved catalyst activity in aromatization reactions.

The present discloses an aromatization catalyst, preparation process and application thereof and a low-carbon olefin aromatization process. The aromatization catalyst comprises a microporous material, a binder and a modifier; the microporous material is a zeolite molecular sieve, the binder is alumina, the modifier is phosphorus, and the molar ratio of the aluminum element in the binder to the phosphorus element is more than or equal to 1 and less than 5; the ratio of the acidity of the strongly acidic sites to the acidity of the weakly acidic sites of the olefin aromatization catalyst is less than 1.

Catalyst compositions comprising an inorganic porous material with pore diameters of at least 2 nm and of crystals of molecular sieve, characterized in that the crystals of molecular sieve have an average diameter, measured by scanning electron microscopy, not bigger than 50 nm, and in that the catalyst composition presents a concentration of acid sites ranges from 50 to 1200 mol/g measured by TPD NH3 adsorption; and the XRD pattern of said catalyst composition is the same as the X ray diffraction pattern of said inorganic porous material.