Patent ID: 8921633

Claim:
A hydrocarbon upgrading process comprising: (a) treating a hydrocarbon feed in at least one of a steam cracker, catalytic cracker, coker, hydrocracker, and reformer under suitable conditions to produce a first stream comprising olefinic and aromatic hydrocarbons; (b) recovering from said first stream a second stream composed mainly of C 4 to C 12 olefinic and aromatic hydrocarbons; (c) blending said second stream with a residual fraction from a steam cracker or an atmospheric or vacuum distillation unit to produce a third stream; (d) catalytically pyrolyzing said third stream in a reactor under conditions effective to produce a fourth stream having an increased benzene and/or toluene content compared with said second stream and a C 3 -olefin by-product; (e) recovering C 3 -olefins from said fourth stream; and (f) recovering benzene and/or toluene from said fourth stream.