TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The reactor has an elongate tubular section, and the feed assembly comprises a screw feeder within the tubular section. The apparatus comprises: a steam assembly arranged to inject steam into the reactor at at least one location downstream of the inlet; and a gas-solid separation system and a fractional distillation system.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The temperature is raised to a level sufficient to vaporize the catalyst composition during conversion of the solid phase to char. The mixture is reacted under sub-atmospheric pressure, preferably a pressure of less than 900 millibar. The mixture is: subjected to shearing and compression by at least one of twin-screw presses, rolling mills, crushing mills, shredding mills or hammer mills; and heated to 190-500 degrees C, where the heating is carried out in a rotating screw reactor having an inlet for the mixture and an outlet for the char in which the pressure is maintained at 50-150 millibar and controlling the temperature of the reactor along the reactor's length so that temperature of the reactor increases from a lower temperature closer to the inlet to a higher temperature closer to the outlet. Preferred Components: The polar organic liquid is room temperature ionic liquids of formula (AxMy), preferably tetramethylene sulfone. The dipolar aprotic liquid is dialkyl formamide, N-alkyl morpholine oxide, dialkyl sulfoxide or dialkyl sulfones of formula (R1-SO2-R2). The acid: is orthophosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, methanesulfonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, hydrohalic acid, nitric acid or formic acid; and is present at 0.1-10 wt.% in the catalyst composition. The weight of the catalyst composition in the mixture is one to ten times the weight of the particulate lignocellulosic material.A = organic cation, preferably dialkyl imidazolium or alkyl pyridinium);M = anion including halide, sulfate, or organic anion (preferably formate, acetate, trifluoromethanesulfonate or bis (trifluoromethane)sulfonamide);x, y = integer or a dipolar aprotic liquid; andR1, R2 = 1-10C alkyl or cyclic sulfone (in which R1 and R2 form part of a cyclic polymethylene). EXAMPLE - No suitable example given.