We report herein on the hydrothermal catalytic liquefaction of soy protein concentrate. Catalyst,screening experiments have shown that metal catalysts (e.g., 5 wt % Pt, Pd, or Ru) supported on porous solids (e.g., carbon, Al2O3) produce crude bio-oils with less heteroatom content-than does noncatalytic liquefaction of this material under otherwise identical conditions. The catalysts had little influence on the biocrude yield. Of-the different catalytic materials tested, Ru/C had the greatest influence on the biocrude composition. The heating value of the;biocrude produced from liquefaction at 350 degrees C for 120 min with a 20 wt % loading of Ru/C was 16% higher than the heating-value from the noncatalytic run (37 MJ/kg vs 43 MJ/kg). Moreover, the heteroatom content of this biocrude from catalytic liquefaction was less than half that of its noncatalytic counterpart (16.6 wt % vs 7.8 wt %). The catalyst reduced sulfur levels in the biocrude to below detection limits and the nitrogen level to 45% of that in the noncatalytic product. Additional experiments with the Ru/C catalyst showed only modest improvements, in biocrude quality with increasing catalyst loading or liquefaction temperature or time. The presence of the Ru/C catalyst shifted the distribution of products amenable to gas chromatography (GC), analysis from being primarily heterocyclic nitrogen-containing compounds and fatty acid amides to being primarily single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons and phenolics. Taken collectively, these results show that heterogeneous catalysts can be effective during hydrothermal liquefaction of material rich hi protein.