Provided is a process for hydrocracking normal paraffins into lighter normal paraffins with minimal formation of iso-paraffins. The process comprises hydrocracking a hydrocarbon feedstock comprising normal paraffins under hydrocracking conditions. The reaction is run in the presence of a specific type of zeolite based catalyst which has been found to provide high conversion with minimal iso-paraffin products. In one embodiment, the zeolite is of the framework PWO. The reaction conducted in the presence of the zeolite based catalyst produces an n-paraffin rich product that needs no separation step before being fed to a steam cracker to produce lower olefins.