This work investigates the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of Cyanidioschyzon merolae algal species under various reaction temperatures and catalysts. Liquefaction of microalgae was performed with 10% solid loading for 30 min at temperatures of 180-300 degrees C to study the influences of two base and two acid catalysts on HTL product fractions. Maximum biocrude oil yield of 16.98% was obtained at 300 degrees C with no catalyst. The biocrude oil yield increased to 22.67% when KOH was introduced into the reaction mixture as a catalyst. The algal biocrude and biochar has a higher heating values (HHV) of 32.22 MJ kg(-1) and 20.78 MJ kg(-1) respectively when no catalyst was used. Gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GC/TOFMS) was employed to analyze the biocrude oil composition, and elemental analysis was performed on the algae, biocrude and biochar samples. Analysis of the HTL aqueous phase revealed the presence of valuable products. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.