TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The hydrotreating catalyst is selected from cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), zinc (Zn), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), cerium (Ce), vanadium (V), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), rhenium (Re), iron (Fe), platinum (Pt), iridium (Ir), palladium (Pd), osmium (Os), rhodium (Rh), and/or ruthenium (Ru) (preferably unsupported catalyst selected from Co/Mo, Co/W, Ni/Mo, Ni/W, Ti/Mo, Ti/W, Co/Mo/W, Ni/Mo/W, and/or Ti/Mo/W); especially a bimetallic catalyst selected from Co/Mo, Co/W, Ni/Mo, Ni/W, Ti/Mo, and/or Ti/W).    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The fuel oil feedstock is heated to reaction temperature prior to contacting the hydrotreating catalyst. In the method (M1), the reaction occurs at an approximate temperature of 400, 425, 450, 475, 500, 525, 550, 575, 600, 625, 650, 675, 700, 725, 750, 775, 800, 825, 850, 875, or 900 degrees F; and at an approximate pressure of 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 1050, 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250, 1500, 1750, 2000, 2250, 2500, 2750, or 3000 psig. Preferred Components: The polyol feedstock comprises glycol, glycerol, erythritol, threitol, arabitol, ribitol, xylitol, allitol, dulcitol, galactitol, iditol, mannitol, sorbitol, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, and/or trehalose. The fuel oil feedstock is selected from gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, heating oil, fuel oils, diesel fuel, petro-diesel, bio-diesel, synthetic diesel, and/or blended diesel. EXAMPLE - Hydrocarbon (sorbitol feedstock) dilution including using diesel as a diluent was carried out in the production of alkanes, as follows. Sorbitol feedstock was processed in the presence of diesel feedstock at 400-1000 degrees F and 150-3000 psi. Sorbitol feedstock contained sorbitol (50-100, preferably 70) vol./vol.%) in aqueous solution. Diesel feedstock was a commonly a mixture of diesel range hydrocarbon products. The diesel products remaining after processing were recycled to gasoline fuel production. Sulfur present in some diesel feeds was used to maintain hydrotreating catalyst activity. Diesel feedstocks contained sulfur compounds/sulfur (15-1500, preferably 1000) ppm. The method reduced the sugar alcohol coking tendency based on reactor pressure drop, while increasing of diesel to sugar alcohol ratio had very little impact on sugar alcohol conversion and product distribution. In addition, it was observed that majority of sorbitol to hydrocarbon conversion reaction was taking place at top part of catalyst bed. The sugar alcohol hydrotreating unit was operated by splitting sugar alcohol injection along catalyst bed. By doing so, it kept high diesel to sorbitol dilution along entire length of catalyst bed while reducing circulation of diesel diluent. In addition, this moderated temperature of bed for this highly exothermic reaction by dilution of diesel feed, and by taking product exiting reactor beds to external cooling source such as heat exchanger before it was returned back to the reactor. The results were as follows: at diesel/sorbitol ratio of 2, the sorbitol conversion was 99.8, and product selectivity (mol%) was 30.8 for 1-4C compounds, 66.9 for 5C+ compounds and CO/CO2 ratio was 2.3.