The purpose of this work is to investigate the overall performance of the iron-based chemical looping hydrogen (CLH) production from the heavy fraction of bio-oil (HFB). The multiple ASPEN models are employed to simulate a two-stage fluidized bed reduction reactor considering the thermodynamic equilibrium limit. Several important factors are discussed to determine the suitable reactor operation conditions for the process simulation of two operation modes. The results show HFB CLH process has a maximum hydrogen efficiency of 73.1% (LHV) and a total thermal efficiency of 59.2% (LHV) at the cost of decreasing the CO2 capture efficiency under the condition of supplementary firing. Within the complete self-sustaining operation range, the highest hydrogen thermal efficiency is 57.8% (LHV) corresponding to a total thermal efficiency of 58.3% (LHV) and a CO2 capture efficiency of nearly 100%. This study indicates the CLH process has significant advantages over the conventional coal gasification (CG) for hydrogen production owing to its high energy conversion efficiency and high-efficient CO2 capture with low cost. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.