<p>Mesua <i>ferrea</i> Linn (MFL) is an evergreen flowering tree in the family <i>Clusiaceae and</i> mainly grown in South Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar. MFL seeds have high oil content ranging from 75 to 80% by weight. In this work, MFL seed oil was hydroprocessed in a 2-liter batch reactor at 400&#xa0;°C and 5&#xa0;bar initial H₂ pressure using biomass wastes supported Ni/Mo and commercial Pd/C catalysts for one hour. Catalytic hydroprocessing produced about 92% biocrude that was distilled using a True Boiling Point (TBP) distillation unit in accordance with ASTM D2892 and ASTM D5236 specifications. On volume basis, the green gasoline (35–140&#xa0;°C) fraction was found to be 6–10%, the green kerosene/aviation fuel (140–180&#xa0;°C) of 5–7%, and the green diesel (180–370&#xa0;°C) fraction of 33–35%, in addition to 7–9% of the wax (370–482&#xa0;°C). The total distillates recovery from TBP distillation unit was 51–65% of the original biocrude. The density for gasoline fraction varies in the range 0.74–0.76&#xa0;g cc^− 1, 0.82–84&#xa0;g cc^− 1 for kerosene fraction and 0.83–0.85&#xa0;g cc^− 1 for diesel fraction. In contrast, kinematic viscosity for gasoline fraction (0.64 cSt) is slightly higher than that of petro-gasoline (0.37–0.44 cSt). However, kinematic viscosity for kerosene fraction (0.93 cSt) is very close to petro-kerosene (1-5.2 cSt) and it falls within the acceptable range for diesel fraction (2.8 cSt). Moreover, higher heating values and flash points for distillate fractions vary in between 40 and 45&#xa0;MJ kg^− 1 and 36–80&#xa0;°C respectively. The observed fuel properties of most of the distillate’s fractions were comparable to petroleum counterparts, indicating that they could be used as an equivalent substitute for petro-fuels.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>