NOVELTY - Processing of woody plant biomass comprises: (a) treating wood chips with a solvent solution in a unit to extract lignin; (b) separating the majority of the preservative chemicals as a sludge; (c) separating the lignin from the aqueous solvent solution; (d) removing cellulosic residue; (e) producing a slurry from the cellulosic residue; (f) feeding the slurry to a bio-convertor to convert the cellulosic and other cellular biological material into a hydrocarbon oil sludge; (g) cooling the hydrocarbon sludge; and (h) recovering bio-crude from the hydrocarbon sludge by extraction.    USE - The methods and apparatus are useful for processing of woody plant biomass (all claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method and apparatus effectively extract lignin from plant material and convert the delignified cellulosic residue to crude bio-oils; and efficiently remove toxic preservative chemicals from waste timber and convert to useful or nontoxic forms.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Processing of woody plant biomass comprises: (a) treating wood chips with a solvent solution in a unit to extract lignin, generating a black liquor; (b) separating the majority of the preservative chemicals as a sludge; (c) separating the lignin from the aqueous solvent solution; (d) removing cellulosic residue generated after the lignin extraction; (e) producing a slurry from the cellulosic residue; (f) feeding the slurry to a bio-convertor to convert the cellulosic and other cellular biological material into a hydrocarbon oil sludge; (g) cooling the hydrocarbon sludge to ambient temperature; and (h) recovering bio-crude from the hydrocarbon sludge by extraction, and recovering the remainder of the preservative chemicals from the bio-crude. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are:    (1) a method for the processing of plant biomass comprising: (a) extracting lignin from plant biomass using a solvent to generate a black liquor; (b) recovering the majority of the preservative chemicals as a sludge from the black liquor; (c) removing cellulosic residue generated after the lignin extraction; (d) separating the lignin from the black liquor; (e) producing a slurry from the cellulosic residue; (f) feeding the slurry to a bio-convertor to convert the cellulosic and other cellular biological material into a hydrocarbon oil sludge; (g) recovering bio-crude from the hydrocarbon sludge by extraction; and separating remaining preservative chemicals, if any, from the bio-crude, and (h) sending the residual sludge to a fertilizer plant to recover high phosphate fertilizer product; and    (2) an apparatus for processing plant biomass comprising: (a) an extraction unit for extracting lignin from plant biomass; (b) a high pressure bio-converter reactor for converting residue from the extraction unit; (c) a set of pressure equalization cylinders fluidly connected to bio-converter; (d) a control system for controlling valves proximate the bio-converter to rapidly open valves at the instant of minimum pressure difference between opposite sides of the valves; and (e) a recovery section for recovering bio-crude from the hydrocarbon sludge by extraction.