TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The high carbon content product contains carbon (at least 70, preferably at least 90) wt.%. The biomass oil is selected from plant oil, microbial lipid, animal fat, triacylglycerides, long chain fatty acids, and/or long chain lipids. The biomass oil is plant oil selected from soybean oil, canola oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, flaxseed oil, jatropha oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, crambe oil, evening primrose oil, sesame oil, rapeseed oil, olive oil, coconut oil, camelina oil, and/or jojoba oil. Preferred Method: In the method (M1), the step of separating tar from cracked biomass oil is selected from solvent extraction, distillation, reactive distillation, evaporation, membrane separation, and/or chemical reaction. The biomass oil is heated in the cracking reactor vessel to a temperature of 300-700 degrees C. The biomass oil is heated in the cracking reactor vessel for up to 500 minutes. The biomass oil is heated in the cracking reactor vessel with a gas selected from an inert gas, nitrogen, water vapor, hydrogen, and/or a mixture of vapor-phase organic chemicals. The catalyst selected from alumina, silica-alumina, sulfated metal oxides, zeolites, palladium, niobium, molybdenum, platinum, titanium, aluminum, cobalt, and/or gold is added to the cracking reactor vessel. The tar is heated to a temperature of 400-800 degrees C for up to 500 minutes. The tar is heated with a gas selected from an inert gas, nitrogen, water vapor, hydrogen, and/or a mixture of vapor-phase organic chemicals. The method (M1) further involves: processing the high carbon content product into activated carbon or carbon black. EXAMPLE - Soybean oil was heated to a temperature of 300-500 degrees C in a cracking reactor vessel at a vacuum pressure of 20700 kPa (3000 psia) for less than 180 minutes to induce cracking reactions that changed the chemical composition of the original soybean oil. The liquid and solids leaving the cracking reactor vessel were subjected to downstream processing in order to separate the various materials. Unreacted raw material and partially reacted material separated from the middle distillates and the tars was recycled to the cracking reactor or transferred to additional cracking reactors. Tars were collected directly from the bottom of the cracking reactor vessel and cooled to room temperature. The tars were placed in a vacuum oven at a temperature of 480-600 degrees C at a pressure of 101 kPa (14.7 psia) for either five or ten minutes. Syngas created during carbonization was continuously removed from the vacuum oven. Insignificant amounts of ash were generated under these carbonization conditions. The resulting solid materials were analyzed for carbon content.