Problem statement: World energy consumption is forecasted to grow sig nificantly for the foreseeable future with fossil fuel remains the gov erning energy source. The demand in the need to explore alternative fuel source was further trigger ed by the overwhelmingly inconsistent cost of gasoline. Bio-oil is an alternative energy source p roduced from pyrolysis of biomass. However it is undesirable as a ready alternative transportation f uel due to its unfavorable nature i.e., highly oxygenated and low octane number. To overcome these physicochemical issues, hydrodeoxygenation reaction is a possible upgrading method i.e., by pa rtial or total elimination of oxygen and hydrogenation of chemical structures. Hence, this s tudy aimed to investigate feasible routes and to develop the process route to upgrade the pyrolytic bio-oil from biomass into value-added chemicals for the production of transportation fuel, i.e., benzen e and cyclohexane, via hydrodeoxygenation process via simulation in PETRONAS iCON software. Approach: In this study, hydrodeoxygenation of phenols and substituted phenols was used to represe nt the hydrodeoxygenation of the major oxygen compound in bio-oil due to their low reactivity in HDO. Results: By assuming the feedstock used was 1% of the total palm shell available in Malaysia, i .e., 2,587 kg h -1 bio-oil, the simulation predicted the production of 226 kg h -1 benzene, 236 kg h -1 cyclohexane and 7 kg h -1 cyclohexene, with the yield of 34, 81 and 3% respectively. The preliminary economic potential was calculated to be positive. It was also observed that hydrogen was the limiting reacta nt in the hydrogenation reaction. Conclusion/Recommendations: The simulation study indicated positive technical and economic feasibility of hydrodeoxygenation of pyrolytic bio- oil from biomass into benzene and cyclohexane for the transportation fuel industry. This potential ca n be explored in more details and further findings can promote the prospect of co-processing bio-oil in st andard refinery units to produce chemicals and fuels.
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