Abstract: A process is set forth for reacting impure toluene to obtain benzene, toluene and a para-rich xylene stream, which are substantially free of close-boiling non-aromatics. The impure toluene comprises at least 70 wt % toluene and between about 0.2 wt % and about 5 wt % close-boiling non-aromatics. The process may also comprise aromatizing a naphtha over a non-acidic catalyst. The impure toluene from the aromatization step is passed over an acidic intermediate pore zeolite to produce a para-rich xylene stream and chemically pure benzene.

Abstract: A process is provided for producing high purity benzene and high purity paraxylene from a hydrocarbon feed. In one aspect, the process comprises: (a) reforming a hydrocarbon feed using either a monofunctional catalyst or a bifunctional catalyst to provide one or more reformate streams; (b) fractionating the reformate stream to provide a toluene stream, a benzene stream, and a xylene stream; (c) subjecting the toluene stream to disproportionation; (d) purifying the benzene stream by extraction followed by distillation to provide a high purity benzene product; and (e) purifying the xylene stream by simulated moving bed countercurrent adsorption followed by crystallization to provide a high purity paraxylene product.