Process which does simultaneous dehydrochlorination and hydrocracking of pyrolysis oils from mixed plastic pyrolysis while achieving selective hydrodealkylation of C9+ aromatics

A process for hydrodealkylating a hydrocarbon stream comprising:

• (a) contacting the hydrocarbon stream with a hydroprocessing catalyst in a hydroprocessing reactor in the presence of hydrogen to yield a hydrocarbon product, wherein the hydrocarbon stream contains C9 aromatic hydrocarbons;
• and
• (b) recovering a treated hydrocarbon stream from the hydrocarbon product,
• wherein an amount of C9 aromatic hydrocarbons in the treated hydrocarbon stream is less than an amount of C9 aromatic hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon stream due to hydrodealkylating of at least a portion of C9 aromatic hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon stream during the step (a) of contacting;
• wherein the step (a) of contacting the hydrocarbon stream with a hydroprocessing catalyst is performed at (i) a temperature of 260° C. to 350° C.;
• (ii) a pressure of 10 barg to 45 barg;
• (iii) a weight hourly space velocity of about 0.1 hr-1 to about 10 hr-1;
• and (iv) a hydrogen to hydrocarbon ratio of 200 NL/L to 800 NL/L;
• wherein the hydroprocessing catalyst is activated in-situ and/or ex-situ by contacting the hydroprocessing catalyst with a stream containing sulphides and chlorides;
• wherein the hydroprocessing catalyst is activated for simultaneous dehydrochlorination, hydrocracking and hydrodealkylation;
• and
• wherein one or more chloride compounds are contained in and/or added to the hydrocarbon stream in an amount of 10 ppm chloride, based on a total weight of the hydrocarbon stream, and the treated hydrocarbon stream comprises one or more chloride compounds in an amount of less than 10 ppm chloride, based on a total weight of the treated hydrocarbon stream.