Catalytic hydroprocessing of waste cooking oil for the production of drop-in aviation fuel and optimization for improving jet biofuel quality in a fixed bed reactor

•We suggest waste cooking oil (WCO) as a significant source for jet fuel production.•High selectivity (55.6%) towards jet range hydrocarbons at higher temperature.•82.9% of isomer yield and 4.8 of i/n ratio obtained at optimal reaction condition.•Hydrocracking of WCO reduces heteroatoms meanwhile raises iso and cycloalkanes.•The catalyst shows high stability and lifetime up to 520 h.