Gasoline Sulfur Reduction Catalyst For Fluid Catalytic Cracking Process

In a fluid catalytic cracking process in which a hydrocarbon feed comprising organosulfur compounds is catalytically cracked to lighter products by contact in a cyclic catalyst recirculation cracking process with a circulating fluidizable catalytic cracking catalyst inventory consisting of particles having a size ranging from about 20 to about 100 microns, comprising:

• (i) catalytically cracking the feed in a catalytic cracking zone operating at catalytic cracking conditions by contacting feed with a source of regenerated cracking catalyst to produce a cracking zone effluent comprising cracked products and spent catalyst containing coke and strippable hydrocarbons;
• (ii) discharging and separating the effluent mixture into a cracked product rich vapor phase and a solids rich phase comprising spent catalyst;
• (iii) removing the vapor phase as a product and fractionating the vapor to form liquid cracking products including gasoline, (iv) stripping the solids rich spent catalyst phase to remove occluded hydrocarbons from the catalyst, (v) transporting stripped catalyst from the stripper to a catalyst regenerator;
• (vi) regenerating stripped catalyst by contact with oxygen containing gas to produce regenerated catalyst;
• and (vii) recycling the regenerated catalyst to the cracking zone to contact further quantities of hydrocarbon feed, the improvement which comprises reducing the sulfur content of a the gasoline portion of the liquid cracking products, by catalytically cracking the feed fraction at elevated temperature in the presence of a product sulfur reduction catalyst which comprises zeolite, yttrium, and least one element selected from the group consisting of zinc, magnesium, and manganese, wherein the yttrium and element are present as cations.