TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The reaction temperature of the mixture of cellulose in the ionic liquid is 40-120 degrees C, preferably 50-80 degrees C. The extraction of the hydroxymethyl pyranone is achieved by adding a solution of water containing 10% sodium chloride to the reaction mixture and extracting with 1-10C alcohol, preferably n-butanol. The butanol extract is concentrated by distillation, and the residues of N-alkyl imidazole chloride are removed from this concentrate by extraction with a sodium chloride 10% water solution. The butanol concentrate free from chlorides is hydrogenated with hydrogen gas at a pressure of 2-100 bar, preferably 30-40 bar, and at a temperature of 50-180 degrees C, preferably 130-140 degrees C. The solution after hydrogenation is submitted to a distillation to isolate the biofuel from butanol. Preferred Components: The ionic liquid is N-alkyl imidazole chloride with alkyl containing 1-10C, preferably methyl imidazole, which contains 2-15% of hydrochloric acid (37%) so that the solution obtained by dissolving 1 g of this mixture in 10 g of water with the pH of 0.9-1.1. EXAMPLE - N-Methyl imidazole (83 g) was introduced in a stirred glass (250 ml) reactor. Then, 37% of hydrochloric acid (100 ml) was added. The step of distillation was carried out at 0.1 bar and at 90 degrees C to obtain a mixture with a pH of 1. To the resulting mixture, cellulose (20 g) was added slowly under stirring. The mixture was heated at 60 degrees C during one hour. Then a 10% solution of sodium chloride in water (50 g) was added. After stirring, the mixture was extracted 3 times with butanol (100 g). The butanol extracts were evaporated until a volume of 50 ml was reached. This concentrate was extracted 3 times with a water solution (50 ml) containing 10% sodium chloride to eliminate traces of N-methyl imidazole chloride contained in the butanol solution. The butanol concentrate free from chloride ions was introduced in a Parr reactor, which was inertized 5 times with nitrogen, and heated during 2 hours at 130 degrees C with a hydrogen pressure of 30 bar. The pressure was maintained by introducing more hydrogen as long as the pressure was lower than 30 bars. The reaction mixture was cooled, the catalyst was filtered, and the liquid was distilled to give a biofuel (95%).