Patent ID: 8657960

Claim:
A method of fractionating lignocellulosic biomass material comprising: a) feeding the biomass into a devolatilization reactor to explode cells of the biomass and to remove volatile components of the biomass; b) after devolatilization and explosion of the biomass cells, feeding the biomass into a hemicellulose hydrolysis reactor to separate and hydrolyze hemicellulose; c) separating the biomass into a first solid component and a liquid component, wherein the liquid component includes hydrolyzed hemicellulose in water or solvent and wherein the solid component includes cellulose and lignin and has less than about 10% hemicellulose; d) feeding the solid component into a cellulose hydrolysis reactor comprising a continuous superheated steam reactor to hydrolyze and vaporize the cellulose component; and e) condensing the hydrolyzed and vaporized cellulose wherein the biomass flows continuously through each of steps a through e.