Patent ID: 7655823

Claim:
A process for producing xylenes from reformate formed in an aromatization zone, which process consists of: (a) forming reformate in an aromatization zone comprising a reforming loop, said reformate comprising aromatic compounds selected from the group consisting of benzene, toluene and mixtures thereof then (b) transferring reformate from said aromatization zone to a methylation reaction zone, wherein said methylation reaction zone is located inside said reforming loop; and, then (c) methylating at least a portion of the benzene, toluene, or mixtures thereof present in said reformate in said methylation reaction zone with a methylating agent under vapor phase conditions effective for the methylation and in the presence of a catalyst selected from at least one of the group consisting of ZSM-5, ZSM-23, and SAPO-11 to produce a resulting product having a higher xylenes content than said reformate.