Patent ID: 8742183

Claim:
A process for producing a hydrocarbon product from a renewable feedstock comprising: a) hydrogenating and deoxygenating the renewable feedstock by contacting the feedstock with a hydrogenation and deoxygenation catalyst at hydrogenation and deoxygenation conditions to provide n-paraffins; b) isomerizing at least a portion of the n-paraffins by contacting with an isomerization catalyst at isomerization conditions to generate branched-paraffins; c) selectively cracking at least a portion of the n-paraffins, the branched-paraffins, or a mixture thereof by contacting with a selective cracking catalyst at selective cracking conditions to generate cracked paraffins wherein each cracked paraffin has at least carbon one less carbon atom after the selective cracking as compared to before the selective cracking; and recovering the hydrocarbon product comprising at least 30 mole-% hydrocarbons having from about 9 to about 15 carbon atoms; and d) recycling a portion of n-paraffins to the hydrogenating and deoxygenating step wherein the volume ratio of recycle to feedstock is in the range of about 2:1 to about 8:1.