TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The catalyst is a supported nickel-molybdenum, nickel-tungsten, or cobalt-molybdenum catalyst. The catalyst support is aluminum oxide, aluminum or aluminum with phosphorus oxides. The catalyst is a modified nickel-aluminum or cobalt-aluminum sponge-metal catalyst. The modifier for the sponge-metal catalyst is molybdenum. The catalyst has an equivalent particle diameter of 30-80 microns.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The renewable biological feedstock comprises vegetable oils, plant oils, algal oils, animal fats, tall oil fatty acid and/or products of the food industry such as greases. Preferred Method: The step of subjecting the biological feedstock to heat in the presence of hydrogen and the catalyst occurs in several reactors or in a mechanically stirred reactor. The step of subjecting the biological feedstock to heat in the present of hydrogen and the catalyst occurs in a slurry bubble column reactor. The heat of reaction is removed by circulation of a heat transfer fluid; is removed by water vaporization; is removed by circulation of a heat transfer fluid; or is removed by water vaporization. The water vaporization is used to produce high pressure steam. EXAMPLE - Nickel-molybdenum (NiMo) catalyst of 1.2 mm equivalent particle diameter, and 70-100 mesh glass beads. The catalyst was sulfided in the presence of hydrogen with dimethyl disulfide at two hold temperatures: 6 hours at 400 degrees F and 12 hours at 650 degrees F and was discharged from the reactor, crushed, and sieved into a 30-80 micron particle-size cut. Ten (10) grams of the 30-80 micron cut of the ground catalyst was combined with canola oil (300 g) in a 1 liter Autoclave stirred-reactor. The agitation was set at 1000 revolution per minutes (rpm). The reactor was purged with N2 before starting H2 flow at 3 l/minute. The reactor was controlled at 500 psig pressure. The temperature was ramped at 1 degrees F/minute to hold temperatures of 450 degrees F, 500 degrees F, 550 degrees F and 600 degrees F. Liquid samples were obtained at each hold temperature and analyzed by GC. The hold times were 20 hours at 450 degrees F, 5 hours at 500 degrees F, 23 hours at 550 degrees F and 19 hours at 600 degrees F. The results of the slurry catalyst conversion reaction showed that most of the 18C and 16C fatty acids in the canola oil were converted to 18C and 16C paraffins, suggesting a high selectivity for the oxygen hydrogenolysis mechanism and low decarboxylation/decarbonylation. The overall concentration of even carbon number paraffins was 80 wt.%.