Conversion of paraffins to aromatics

In a method of producing aromatic compounds from a paraffin containing feed stock, the combination comprising:

• (a) passing said feedstock into a reaction zone into contact with a catalyst system within said reaction zone comprising a discrete physical mixture of a shape-selective crystalline silica polymorph silicalite homologation catalyst and a metal or metal oxide dehydrogenation catalyst,
• (b) providing a temperature within said reaction zone sufficient to cause the dehydrogenation of paraffinic hydrocarbons to olefins, the oligomerization of olefinic hydrocarbons to cyclic naphthenes and the aromatization of said naphthenes, and
• (c) providing temperature and pressure conditions and relative concentrations of said silicalite catalyst and said dehydrogenation catalyst in said mixture to provide a relationship between the thermodynamic constraint for the dehydrogenation of said paraffinic hydrocarbons and the balancing of the kinetics of said dehydrogenation and oligomerization reactions to limit the olefin concentration within said reaction zone to a value which does not produce substantial coking of said catalyst system.