A method is disclosed for preparing a renewable fuel blend. The method includes subjecting at least two feedstocks of different biological origins to catalytic cracking in a catalytic cracking unit and to hydrotreatment in a hydrotreatment unit to form a fuel blend having an aromatic hydrocarbon content from 26 to 42 wt-% and a paraffinic hydrocarbon content of less than 53 wt-%, as measured according to ASTM D2425-04 (2011). The fuel blend is formed by mixing the at least two feedstocks together before subjecting them to the catalytic cracking and hydrotreatment, or by obtaining a first fuel component and at least one further fuel component from the catalytic cracking and hydrotreatment of the at least two feedstocks, and mixing the first fuel component and the at least one further fuel component together.

According to one or more embodiments, cationic polymers may be produced which include one or more monomers containing cations. Such cationic polymers may be utilized as structure directing agents to for mesoporous zeolites. The mesoporous zeolites may include micropores as well as mesopores, and may have a surface area of greater than 350 m.sup.2/g and a pore volume of greater than 0.3 cm.sup.3/g. Also described are core/shell zeolites, where at least the shell portion includes a mesoporous zeolite material.

According to one or more embodiments, cationic polymers may be produced which include one or more monomers containing cations. Such cationic polymers may be utilized as structure directing agents to for mesoporous zeolites. The mesoporous zeolites may include micropores as well as mesopores, and may have a surface area of greater than 350 m.sup.2/g and a pore volume of greater than 0.3 cm.sup.3/g. Also described are core/shell zeolites, where at least the shell portion includes a mesoporous zeolite material.

A method is disclosed for reducing fouling in catalytic cracking. The method includes subjecting a recycled fossil-based feedstock to a heat treatment, evaporating the heat-treated feedstock, hydrotreating resulting evaporation distillate and performing catalytic cracking of the hydrotreated distillate in a presence of a solid acid catalyst.

According to one or more embodiments, a mesoporous zeolite may included a microporous framework that includes a plurality of micropores having diameters of less than or equal to 2 nm, and a plurality of mesopores having diameters of greater than 2 nm and less than or equal to 50 nm. The mesoporous zeolite may included an aluminosilicate material, a titanosilicate material, or a pure silicate material. The mesoporous zeolite may included a surface area of greater than 350 m.sup.2/g and a pore volume of greater than 0.3 cm.sup.3/g.

A method for producing a renewable base oil from a feedstock of biological origin includes providing a feedstock, the feedstock including: 2-95 wt % of a mixture of free fatty acids; 5-98 wt % fatty acid glycerols selected from mono-glycerides, di-glycerides and tri-glycerides of fatty acids; 0-50 wt % of one or more compounds selected from the list consisting of: fatty acid esters of the non-glycerol type, fatty amides and fatty alcohols; a major part of the feedstock being a mixture of free fatty acids and fatty acid glycerols; subjecting all or part of the feedstock to ketonisation reaction conditions where two free fatty acids react to yield a ketone stream, and subjecting the ketone stream to both hydrodeoxygenation and to hydroisomerisation reaction conditions, to yield a deoxygenated and isomerised base oil product stream containing the renewable base oil.

Hydrotreatment of biological oil is disclosed for producing renewable base oil and a diesel oil from low value biological oils. Low value biological oils containing free fatty acids and fatty acid esters can be processed into a renewable base oil and a renewable diesel oil in an efficient manner by first separating at least part of the free fatty acids from the feedstock and then processing separately this free acid feed in a ketonisation reaction followed by hydrodeoxygenation and hydroisomerisation reactions to yield a renewable base oil stream. The remaining free fatty acid depleted feed is processed in a separate hydrodeoxygenation and hydroisomerisation step to yield a renewable diesel stream.

A C.sub.31 renewable base oil is disclosed that is suitable as a base oil to provide low viscosity base oils, such as having both low Noack volatility and low CCS-30 C. viscosity and/or to provide low viscosity base oils at the same time having a combination of acceptable HTHS and KV100 to allow the industry's base oil blenders to formulate high quality engine oils, such as SAE grade 0W-20, 0W-16, 0W-12 or 0W-8.

A simplified processes for producing desired chemicals such as butenes from feedstock mixtures containing ethanol. In one set of embodiments this is performed in a single step, wherein a feed containing ethanol in a gas phase is passed over an acidic metal oxide catalyst having a transition metal dispersion of at least 5% on a metal oxide support. The ethanol content of the feedstock mixture may vary from 10 to 100 percent of the feed and in those non-eat applications the ethanol feed may contain water.

The present invention provides a method for preparing liquid fuel by using -valerolactone, and steps are as follows: placing a phosphoric acid solution and -valerolactone in a reaction tank for reaction at 220-260 C. for 3-12 hours, cooling to room temperature to obtain a liquid fuel. Using the phosphoric acid solution as a catalyst, -valerolactone can be catalytically converted in one step at a mild temperature (220-260 C.) to produce light and heavy oil products with high calorific value, with a total oil yield up to 33.5 wt %. This technique is simple in process flow and convenience to operate, and has industrial application prospects. Compared with other technologies for preparing high-grade oil products by catalytically converting -valerolactone, using the phosphoric acid solution for catalytic conversion has the obvious advantages that no expensive hydrogen needs to be provided externally, the reaction process is simple, and the temperature is mild.