Patent ID: 8623777

Claim:
A method for rejuvenating a catalyst, comprising contacting the catalyst with a gaseous feedstock at rejuvenation conditions for at least one hour to form a rejuvenated catalyst and a gaseous product, wherein said catalyst comprises at least 10 wt. % of a molecular sieve, wherein prior to the contacting step said catalyst comprises from 0.001 wt. % to 45 wt. % of hydrocarbons and 0.001 to 10 wt. % nitrogen containing components, said weight percents based on the total weight of said catalyst prior to the contacting step, wherein said molecular sieve comprises at least one of a MCM-22 family molecular sieve, a molecular sieve having a framework type of *BEA, a molecular sieve having a framework type of FAU, and a molecular sieve having a framework type of MOR, wherein said gaseous feedstock is at least one selected from the group consisting of N 2 , H 2 , alkane, He, Ar, CO, nitrogen-containing compounds other than nitrogen, water and CO 2 , wherein said rejuvenated catalyst comprises at least 50 wt. % less nitrogen containing components than said catalyst prior to the contacting step, wherein said gaseous product has at least a portion of said gaseous feedstock and at least a portion of said hydrocarbons of said catalyst and at least a portion of said nitrogen containing components of said catalyst, wherein said rejuvenation conditions comprise a temperature in the range from about 400 to 600° C., a pressure in the range from about 101.3 kPa-a to 10130 kPa-a, a space hourly velocity in the range of from 0.05 to 10 normal cubic meter gaseous feedstock per hour per kilogram of catalyst.