Abstract: The phenyl ethyl ether (PEE) and benzyloxybenzene (BOB) were selected as coal-related model compounds, and their catalytic pyrolysis behaviors in the presence of Ni-modified HZSM-5 zeolite were studied in a fixed-bed reactor. Nickel was introduced on HZSM-5 zeolite by wet impregnation. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, H₂-TPR and NH₃-TPD, and the effect of hydrogen reduction pretreatment on the catalytic performance was studied. NiO/HZSM-5 can significantly improve the yield of phenols in the liquid phase products of the two model compounds. Compared with Ni/HZSM-5, NiO/HZSM-5 exhibits superior pyrolysis conversion of PEE.