Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of bio-crude was investigated using phenol as a model compound in supercritical hexane at temperatures of 300-450 degrees C and cold pressure of hydrogen 5.0 MPa with MgO-supported sulfided CoMo with and without phosphorus as a catalyst promoter. The oily products after hydro-treatment were characterized by GC/MS and FTIR. Both MgO-supported catalysts proved to be effective for hydrodeoxygenation of phenol leading to significantly increased yields of reduced hydrocarbon products, such as benzene and cyclohexyl-aromatics, at temperatures higher than 350 degrees C, while CoMoP/MgO showed superior activity in HDO of phenol. With the presence of CoMoP/MgO for 60 min and at 450 C, the treatment of phenol yielded a product containing approximately 65 wt.% benzene and > 10 wt.% cyclohexyl-compounds. The fresh and spent catalysts were thoroughly characterized by ICP-AES, N-2 isothermal adsorption, XRD, XPS and TGA, and the effects of the phosphorus as the catalyst promoter and MgO as a basic support were discussed. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.