TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The average particle size of the catalyst particles is at least 2000 mu m. The support for the catalyst particles comprises a hydrothermally stable support material; titania and/or zirconia. The support for the catalyst particles includes alumina ( less than or equal to 0.1 wt.%). The catalyst particles further comprise a hydrothermally stable binder. The catalyst metal comprises Co, Ni and/or Mo; or Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru and/or Ir. The catalyst metal is in the form of an oxide or a sulfide or a catalyst metal salt. The reducing gas is hydrogen. The catalyst particles are present in an amount of 1-20 wt.%. Preferred Method: The effective hydrothermal processing conditions include a temperature of 150-500 degrees C and a pressure of 4.5 barg (450 kPag) to 300 barg (30 MPag); a partial pressure of reducing gas of at least 2 bar (0.2 MPa). The catalyst particles are separated from the algae based solids prior to or during separation of the solids portion from the aqueous portion. The contacting the algae based feed with water under effective hydrothermal processing conditions substantially does not result in a phase change for the water. The algae based feed and the water are introduced into the reactor as a mixture of algae and water. The weight ratio of water to algae is 3:1-5:1. The method (M1) further involves: separating the hydrocarbon liquid product to produce a fraction having at least 90% of its boiling point at 193-360 degrees C. EXAMPLE - Sample of freeze-dried Nannochloropsis algae feed and a catalyst with Pt supported on activated carbon (10 wt.% Pt) was were placed in 316SS stainless steel 1 inch outer diameter reactor. The reactor remained in the sandbath for 60 minutes. At the end of the time period, the reactor was removed from the sandbath and quenched to room temperature. The hydrocarbon product was recovered using methylene chloride extraction and phase separation. The algae was mixed with water to yield a water to algae weight ratio of 4:1. A partial pressure of 50 bar (5 MPa) of hydrogen was added to the reactor. The temperature of the sandbath was 350 degrees C. The treatment produced hydrocarbon product with total yield of 31.5, standard deviation of 2.1; % distillate of 53.8%; % increase of 21.2%; distillate yield of 16.9 and % increase of -4 %.