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In the current study, plain and lignin loaded with Zeolite Y, hydrogen was decomposed in a pyrolysis chamber. The reaction parameters were optimized and 390 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">°</span>C, 3% catalyst with a reaction time of 40 min were observed as the most suitable conditions for better oil yield. The bio-oil collected from the catalyzed and non-catalyzed pyrolytic reactions was analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS). Catalytic pyrolysis resulted in the production of bio-oil consisting of 15 components ranging from C₃ to C₁₈ with a high percentage of fuel range benzene derivatives. Non-catalytic pyrolysis produced bio-oil that consists of 58 components ranging from C₃ to C₂₄; however, the number and quantity of fuel range hydrocarbons were lower than in the catalyzed products. The pyrolysis reaction was studied kinetically for both samples using thermogravimetry at heating rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">°</span>C/min in the temperature range 20–600 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">°</span>C. The activation energies and pre-exponential factors were calculated using the Kissinger equation for both non-catalytic and catalytic decomposition and found to be 157.96 kJ/mol, 141.33 kJ/mol, 2.66 × 10¹³ min⁻¹ and 2.17 × 10¹⁰ min⁻¹, respectively. It was concluded that Zeolite Y, hydrogen worked well as a catalyst to decrease activation energy and enhance the quality of the bio-oil generated.