Production of hydrocarbon fuels from lignin-derived materials

A process for producing one or more hydrocarbon fuels, said process comprising:

• (a) providing a lignin-derived material as a feedstock, said lignin-derived material comprising lignin oligomers;
• (b) placing said feedstock into a feedstock stream;
• (c) hydrodeoxygenating said feedstock stream in a first continuous reactor by contacting said feedstock stream with gaseous hydrogen in the presence of a first catalyst to thereby produce a partially hydrodeoxygenated intermediate that exits said first continuous reactor;
• (d) separating gaseous and aqueous by-products from said partially hydrodeoxygenated intermediate to thereby obtain an organic intermediate;
• (e) hydrodeoxygenating said organic intermediate in a second continuous reactor by contacting said organic intermediate with gaseous hydrogen in the presence of a second catalyst to thereby produce a hydrodeoxygenated product that exits said second continuous reactor;
• (f) separating second-stage by-products from said hydrodeoxygenated product to thereby produce a hydrocarbon product;
• and
• (g) fractionating said hydrocarbon product to obtain said one or more hydrocarbon fuels,
• wherein said process is continuous, and wherein each of said step (c) and said step (e) are conducted under operating conditions comprising:
• a temperature in the range of about 350° C. to about 450° C.;
• and
• a hydrogen gauge pressure in the range of about 6 MPa to about 18 MPa.