Integrated Process to Selectively Convert Renewable Isobutanol to P-Xylene

A method for preparing renewable p-xylene comprising:

• (a) treating biomass to form a fermentation feedstock;
• (b) fermenting the fermentation feedstock with one or more species of microorganism to form a fermentation broth comprising aqueous isobutanol;
• (c) removing aqueous isobutanol from the fermentation broth;
• (d) dehydrating, in the presence of a dehydration catalyst, at least a portion of the aqueous isobutanol of step (c), thereby forming a dehydration product comprising one or more C4 alkenes and water;
• (e) dimerizing, in the presence of an oligomerization catalyst, a dimerization feedstock comprising at least a portion of the C4 alkenes formed in step (d), thereby forming a dimerization product comprising one or more C8 alkenes;
• (f) dehydrocyclizing, in the presence of a dehydrocyclization catalyst, a dehydrocyclization feedstock comprising at least a portion of the C8 alkenes of step (e), thereby forming a dehydrocyclization product comprising xylenes and hydrogen, wherein the xylenes comprise at least about 75% p-xylene.