Spent coffee grounds (SCG) were liquefied in hot-compressed water to produce crude bio-oil via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) in a 100 cm(3) stainless-steel autoclave reactor in N-2 atmosphere. We investigated the effects of operating parameters such as retention times (5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min and 25 min), reaction temperatures (200 degrees C, 225 degrees C, 250 degrees C, 275 degrees C and 300 degrees C), and water/feedstock mass ratios (5:1, 10:1, 15:1 and 20:1) and initial pressure of process gas (2.0 MPa and 0.5 MPa) on the yield and properties of the resulting crude bio-oil. The highest yield of the crude bio-oil (47.3% mass fraction) was obtained at conditions of 275 degrees C, 10 min retention time and water/feedstock mass ratio of 20:1 with an initial pressure of 2.0 MPa. The elemental analysis of the produced crude bio-oil revealed that the oil product had a higher heating value (HHV) of 31.0 MJ kg(-1), much higher than that of the raw material (20.2 MJ kg(-1)). GC-MS and FT-IR measurements showed that the main volatile compounds in the crude bio-oil were long chain aliphatic acids and esters. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.