TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The phosphate catalyst comprises a phosphate anion and at least one counterion, which is monovalent, divalent and/or trivalent. The counterion is hydrogen, lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, ammonium, magnesium, calcium, barium, strontium, zinc, cadmium, copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, vanadyl, tin, lead, ferrous, ferric, aluminum, chromic, scandium and/or rare earths ions.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The biomass is heated at: an autogenous pressure; or a pressure of 1-35 MPa. The mixture is subjected to a: solvent extraction step to separate the organic phase from the aqueous phase; or sequence of solvent/aqueous extraction steps with sequential changes of pH to separate organic chemical products from the mixture. The aqueous slurry is heated: at 200-450 degrees C, preferably 374-450 degrees C; and for a time period of 5 minutes to 12 hours, preferably 5-60 minutes. The biomass is heated: for 5-240 minutes; or for a first period of 1-120 minutes at a first temperature of 150-373 degrees C, and for a second period of 1-120 minutes at a second temperature of 374-500 degrees C. The pH of the slurry is adjusted to: 7-11 by adding ammonia; 3-7; 5-7; 7-8.5; or 8.5-11. In the method, the temperature is held between 300-374 degrees C and the reaction time is 5-35 minutes for manufacturing aromatic compounds at subcritical temperatures. Preferred Composition: The aqueous slurry comprises: biomass (1-80 wt.%); and phosphate catalyst (1-20 wt.%). Preferred Components: The biomass: is a set comprising algal biomass, cellulosic biomass, proteinaceous biomass and/or seaweed; and comprises 2-80%, preferably 10-30% dry weight equivalent of algae. EXAMPLE - The slurry (300 ml) comprising microalgae (6 wt.%) in water and trisodium phosphate (7 wt.%) was placed in a stainless steel bomb, sealed and placed in the oven. Then the bomb was heated at 300-370 degrees C (supercritical temperature) for 30 minutes and allowed to cool to form a mixture comprising aqueous phase and organic phase. After cooling, the sample was filtered slowly through the soxhlet thimble extractor to remove the aqueous phase, which was then extracted with dichloromethane (3 x 100 ml). The organic extracts were combined and the extractor was allowed to run until the solvent in the upper barrel was clear. The dichloromethane was then distilled to give oil (30% yield) comprising e.g. toluene, ethyl benzene, styrene and methyl pyrazine. The remaining aqueous phase was then acidified to pH 1 by addition of nitric acid and extracted with dichloromethane (4 x 50 ml). The organic phases were combined and the dichloromethane was removed by evaporation to give the aqueous phase extracted oil comprising e.g. acetic acid, acetamide and butanoic acid.