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A self-sustaining process for producing high quality liquid fuels from biomass in which the biomass is hydropyrolyzed in a reactor vessel containing molecular hydrogen and a deoxygenating catalyst, producing a partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis liquid, which is hydrogenated using a hydroconversio

A self-sustaining process for producing high quality liquid fuels from biomass in which the biomass is hydropyrolyzed in a reactor vessel containing molecular hydrogen and a deoxygenating catalyst, producing a partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis liquid, which is hydrogenated using a hydroconversion catalyst, producing a substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid and a gaseous mixture comprising CO and light hydrocarbon gases (C1-C3). The gaseous mixture is reformed in a steam reformer, producing reformed molecular hydrogen, which is then introduced into the reactor vessel for hydropyrolizing the biomass. The deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid product is further separated to produce diesel fuel, gasoline, or blending components for gasoline and diesel fuel.

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1. A process for producing liquid products from biomass comprising the steps of: a) hydropyrolyzing biomass in a hydropyrolysis reactor vessel containing molecular hydrogen and a deoxygenating catalyst, producing a hydropyrolysis reactor output comprising CO2, CO and C1-C3 gas, a partially deoxygena

1. A process for producing liquid products from biomass comprising the steps of: a) hydropyrolyzing biomass in a hydropyrolysis reactor vessel containing molecular hydrogen and a deoxygenating catalyst, producing a hydropyrolysis reactor output comprising CO2, CO and C1-C3 gas, a partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product and char;b) removing said char from said partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product;c) hydroconverting said partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product in a hydroconversion reactor vessel using a hydroconversion catalyst in the presence of the CO2, CO and C1-C3 gas generated in step a), producing a substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid and a gaseous mixture comprising CO, CO2, and light hydrocarbon gases (C1-C3);d) steam reforming at least a portion of said gaseous mixture, producing reformed molecular hydrogen; ande) introducing said reformed molecular hydrogen into said reactor vessel for hydropyrolizing said biomass, wherein steps a) and c) are operated at conditions under which about 30-70% of oxygen in said biomass is converted to H2O and about 30-70% of said oxygen is converted to CO and CO2. 2. The process of claim 1, wherein a portion of said substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid created in step c) is recycled to said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel or said hydroconversion reactor vessel to control temperature therein. 3. The process of claim 2, wherein said substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid is separated into diesel and gasoline fractions suitable for use as transportation fuel. 4. The process of claim 1, wherein at least one of said deoxygenating catalyst and said hydroconversion catalyst is a glass-ceramic material. 5. The process of claim 1, wherein a hydrocracking catalyst is disposed at least one of upstream of, downstream of, within, and parallel with said hydroconversion reactor vessel. 6. The process of claim 5, wherein said hydrocracking catalyst is an acidic, metal-containing catalyst which provides both a hydrogenation function and an acidic function. 7. The process of claim 5, wherein all of said steps a), c), and d) are carried out at a substantially same pressure. 8. The process of claim 7, wherein said pressure is in a range of about 100 to about 800 psig. 9. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydroconversion catalyst is replaced by a hydrocracking catalyst. 10. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydroconversion catalyst catalyzes both a water-gas-shift reaction and hydroconversion. 11. The process of claim 1, wherein all of said steps a), c), and d) are carried out at a substantially same pressure. 12. The process of claim 11, wherein said pressure is in a range of about 100 to about 800 psig. 13. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydropyrolysis is carried out at a temperature in a range of about 500° F. to about 1000° F. and said hydroconversion is carried out at a temperature in a range of about 500° F. to about 850° F. 14. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydropyrolysis is carried out at a weight hourly space velocity of about 0.2 to about 10 gm biomass/gm catalyst/hr. 15. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydroconversion is carried out with a weight hourly space velocity of about 0.2 to about 3 gm biomass/gm catalyst/hr. 16. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel is a fluidized bed reactor containing a fluidized bed, and a gas residence time in said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel is less than about one minute. 17. The process of claim 16, wherein said char is removed from said fluidized bed reactor substantially only from above said fluidized bed. 18. The process of claim 17, wherein said deoxygenation catalyst is granulated and sufficiently resistant to attrition such that it attrits said char, thereby enabling removal of said char from said fluidized bed reactor substantially only from above said fluidized bed. 19. The process of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises bubbling gases output by said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel through a recirculating liquid comprising a high boiling point portion of said substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid. 20. The process of claim 1, wherein output from said process consists essentially of liquid product and CO2. 21. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel is a fluidized bed reactor containing a fluidized bed and said char is removed from said fluidized bed reactor by energetic char separation employing at least one of an inertial, electrostatic, and magnetic process. 22. The process of claim 21, wherein said deoxygenating catalyst is a glass-ceramic material. 23. The process of claim 1, wherein, in step (d), reformed molecular hydrogen is produced in an amount sufficient for hydropyrolyzing said biomass. 24. The process of claim 1, wherein steam reforming step d) is performed using water produced in step a) and step c) to produce reformed molecular hydrogen. 25. A process for producing liquid products from biomass comprising the steps of: pyrolyzing said biomass in a hydropyrolysis reactor vessel in the presence of H2 and a deoxygenating catalyst, producing a hydropyrolysis process output comprising partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product and char;hydroconverting said partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product in a hydroconversion reactor vessel in the presence of a hydroconversion catalyst at a hydroconversion pressure in a range of about 100 psig to about 800 psig, producing substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid and a gaseous mixture comprising CO and C1-C3 light hydrocarbon gases; andsteam reforming at least a portion of said gaseous mixture, producing reformed H2 in an amount sufficient for hydropyrolyzing said biomass. 26. The process of claim 25, wherein in a range of about 30-70% of oxygen in said biomass is converted to H2O and about 30-70% of said oxygen is converted to CO and CO2. 27. The process of claim 25, wherein a hydrocracking catalyst is disposed at least one of upstream of, downstream of, within, and parallel with said hydroconversion reactor vessel. 28. The process of claim 27, wherein said hydrocracking catalyst is an acidic, metal-containing catalyst which provides both a hydrogenation function and an acidic function. 29. The process of claim 25, wherein said hydroconversion catalyst catalyzes both a water-gas-shift reaction and hydroconversion. 30. The process of claim 25, wherein said hydropyrolyzing is carried out at a hydropyrolysis temperature in a range of about 500° F. to about 1000° F. and said hydroconverting is carried out at a hydroconversion temperature in a range of about 500° F. to about 850° F. 31. The process of claim 25, wherein said substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid is separated into diesel and gasoline fractions suitable for use as transportation fuel. 32. The process of claim 25, wherein said reactor vessel is a fluidized bed reactor containing a fluidized bed. 33. The process of claim 25, wherein output from said process consists essentially of liquid product and CO2. 34. The process of claim 25, wherein said hydroconversion catalyst is replaced entirely by a hydrocracking catalyst. 35. The process of claim 25, wherein said hydropyrolysis catalyst is replaced entirely by a hydrocracking catalyst. 36. The process of claim 25, wherein the hydroconversion pressure is in a range of about 100 psig to about 500 psig. 37. The process of claim 25, further comprising separating said char from said hydropyrolysis process output. 38. A process for producing liquid products from biomass comprising the steps of: a) pyrolyzing said biomass in a hydropyrolysis reactor vessel in the presence of H2 and a deoxygenating catalyst to produce a hydropyrolysis reactor output comprising partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product and char;b) hydroconverting said partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product in a hydroconversion reactor vessel in the presence of a hydroconversion catalyst to produce substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid and a gaseous mixture comprising CO and C1-C3 light hydrocarbon gases;c) steam reforming at least a portion of said gaseous mixture using water produced in step a) and step b) to produce reformed H2; andd) introducing said reformed H2 into said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel. 39. The process of claim 38, wherein the water produced in step a) and step b) is separated from the substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid. 40. A process for producing liquid products from biomass comprising the steps of: a) pyrolyzing said biomass in a hydropyrolysis reactor vessel in the presence of H2 and a deoxygenating catalyst to produce a hydropyrolysis reactor output comprising partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product and char;b) hydroconverting said partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product in a hydroconversion reactor vessel in the presence of a hydroconversion catalyst to produce substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid and a gaseous mixture comprising CO and C1-C3 light hydrocarbon gases;c) steam reforming at least a portion of said gaseous mixture to produce reformed H2; andd) introducing said reformed H2 into said hydropyrolysis reactor vessel,wherein said deoxygenating catalyst and said hydroconversion catalyst have differing catalytic activities. 41. The process of claim 40, wherein the hydroconversion catalyst has greater water-gas shift catalytic activity relative to the deoxygenating catalyst. 42. The process of claim 40, wherein the hydroconversion catalyst has greater acidity relative to the deoxygenating catalyst. 43. The process of claim 40, wherein the hydroconversion catalyst has polymerization catalytic activity to increase the yield of C12 and C18 products in the substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon liquid.