The objective of this work is to understand the role of metals on the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reaction pathways of three bio-oil model compounds. Ni, Ru and Pd were impregnated on USY zeolite, and the catalysts were characterized to determine metal reduction profile, surface concentration and nanoparticle size. Ru-USY and Pd-USY were completely reduced at a temperature below 450 degrees C, but Ni-USY still contained surface metal oxides after reduction. There was no indication of strong interactions between the metals and USY support. Anisole, 4-ethylphenol and benzofuran were used as bio-oil model compounds, in order to determine the effects of each metal on deoxygenation of methoxy-, phenol and furan functional groups, respectively. Pd-USY was the most effective HDO catalyst, exhibiting the highest turnover frequency for HDO of all three model compounds, in addition to and high selectivity to deoxygenated products. A mechanism was proposed for each model compound, and the kinetics of hydrogenation, dehydration, C-C coupling and ring-opening reactions were determined.