Patent ID: 7824521

Claim:
A process of treating a lignocellulosic material comprising: in a pre-extraction step, extracting hemicellulose from the lignocellulosic material, by contacting the lignocellulosic material with an aqueous solution including a basic material in water, the temperature of extraction being within a range of from about 130° C. to about 180° C., the aqueous solution at the end of the pre-extraction step having a pH within a range of from about 4.5 to about 9.5 measured at a temperature of 20° C. and the pre-extraction step extracting at least about 15% of the hemicellulose from the lignocellulosic material by dry weight; then in a pulping step, separating the lignocellulosic material into pulp; and then in an adsorption step, adsorbing the extracted hemicellulose on the pulp while controlling the adsorption step pH from about 9 to about 14, recovering a sugar rich extract not adsorbed in the adsorption step and producing value-added materials from said sugar rich extract.