Method for producing high value aromatics and olefin from light cycle oil produced by a fluidized catalytic cracking process

A method of producing an aromatic product and an olefin product from light cycle oil, comprising the steps of:

• p1 (a) cracking a feed consisting of light cycle oil having a boiling point of 170° C. to 360° C. and an aromatic content of 70 wt % or more in the presence of a cracking catalyst at a temperature of 420-800° C. and a pressure of 1-10 atms, to obtain cracked light cycle oil;
• (b) separating the cracked light cycle oil into (i) an aromatic product comprising monocyclic aromatics of benzene, toluene and xylene, (ii) a gaseous mixture including olefins, and (iii) an aromatic mixture having a boiling point of 220° C. or more which comprises aromatics having two or more aromatic rings, and recovering (i) the aromatic product and (ii) the gaseous mixture
• (c) hydrogenating the aromatic mixture (iii) in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of 200-700° C., a pressure of 10-200 atms and a hydrogen feed rate of 20-400 m3/Bbl to partially saturate the two or more aromatic rings into one aromatic ring with hydrogen;
• and
• (d) recycling all of the hydrogenated aromatic mixture to mix the hydrogenated aromatic mixture with the feed in the step (a);
• wherein the cracking catalyst consists of a binder and a large pore zeolite molecular sieve having a pore size of 6.5 Å or more, and is selected from the group consisting of FAU, MOR and BEA, having an Si/Al molar ratio of 300 or less.