NOVELTY - Producing carbohydrate-enriched biomass comprises: (a) providing lignocellulosic biomass comprising lignin; (b) suspending the biomass of (a) in an organic solvent solution comprising water and elemental sulfur under alkaline conditions where a biomass-solvent suspension is formed; (c) heating the biomass-solvent suspension to a temperature 100-220 degrees C for 5 minutes to 5 hours where lignin is fragmented and is dissolved in the suspension; and (d) filtering free liquid where the dissolved lignin is removed and where readily carbohydrate-enriched biomass is produced.    USE - The methods are useful for producing carbohydrate-enriched biomass; and for simultaneous fragmentation and selective extraction of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass to produce a substantially lignin-free biomass (all claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method provides a single step process of producing biomass using substantially lower concentrations of sulfur andrecyclable base in the form of ammonia or alkylamines as opposed to the use of alkali metal hydroxides which are not amenable to either recycle or disposal. Surprisingly, this efficient and cost effective process resulted in significantly improved lignin fragmentation and extraction and high carbohydrate retention.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is a method of simultaneous fragmentation and selective extraction of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass to produce a substantially lignin-free biomass comprising: (a) providing: (1) an amount of lignocellulosic biomass: (2) elemental sulfur and a multi-component solvent solution comprising 40-70% ethanol in water (v/v) and one or more alkylamines; (b) contacting the biomass with the elemental sulfur and the multi-component solvent solution of (a) where a biomass-solvent mixture is formed; (c) placing the mixture of(b) in a pressure vessel where the mixture is heated at 100-220 degrees C for 5 minutes to 5 hours where lignin is fragmented and dissolved in the solvent; (d) removing the dissolved lignin of (c) by filtration; and (e) washing the residual biomass with a organic solvent, where substantially lignin-free biomass is produced.