This paper provides a continuous lumping model for hydrocracking using molecular weight and true boiling point as the basis. Isomerization and cracking are the two typical global reactions which occur on acid sites of a bifunctional acid-metal hydrocracking catalyst. The latter reaction is considered to model the hydrocracking process. It is assumed that the rate coefficient of the cracking reactions depend on the size of the feed hydrocarbons. The kinetic parameters involved in the continuous lumping model are estimated by using a hybrid particle swarm optimization method. The proposed kinetic methodology is validated with the experimental data cited in the literature. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.