TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The acid is nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, trifluoroacetic acid, and/or preferably sulfuric acid. The catalyst is platinum, platinum compound, nickel, nickel compound, palladium, palladium compound, ruthenium, ruthenium compound, rhodium, rhodium compound, iridium, iridium compound, cobalt, cobalt compound, mixture or alloy of these metals or metal compounds, or preferably platinum on aluminum oxide. Preferred Concentration: The concentration of acid is 3-8 wt.%, based on dry biomass.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The method includes heating the mixture to greater than or equal to 225degrees C and holding the temperature at greater than or equal to 225degrees C for greater than or equal to 1 hour. Preferred Ratios: The ratio of dry biomass to water is 1:9. The ratio of dry biomass to catalyst is 10:1.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The biomass comprises plants, trees, crops, crop residues, grasses, forest and mill residues, wood and wood wastes, and/or waste paper, preferably sawdust. The biomass components are cellulose and/or hemicellulose. EXAMPLE - Sawdust (5.54 g, 10.63% moisture content) and platinum/aluminum oxide pellets (0.498 g) were put inside a reactor. Water (43.7 ml) was added to obtain liquid-to-wood ratio of 9. Using a micropipette, sulfuric acid (1.263 ml, 2 M) was transferred into the reactor for 5% acid concentration run (based on dry biomass). After securing the reactor head, helium gas was allowed to flow through the reactor and to purge out air from the headspace. After 1.5 minutes, the reactor was pressurized with 30 psig helium, sealed and heated to 225degrees C. The reaction was allowed to run for 3 hours. Gas sampling was done at the end of this period. Results showed more than eleven-fold increase in the amount of hydrogen produced with 5% acid than with 1% acid. No methane was formed since there was no catalyst present in the system.