NOVELTY - Treating biomass, comprises mixing a biomass with an ionic liquid to swell the biomass, and electromagnetic heating, preferably radiofrequency heating or infrared heating, the swelled biomass.    USE - The method is useful for treating biomass (including agricultural residues including corn stover, wheat straw, bagasse, rice hulls or rice straw, wood and forest residues including pine, poplar, douglas fir, oak, saw dust, paper/pulp waste or wood fiber, algae, kudzu, coal, cellulose, lignin, herbaceous energy crops, preferably switchgrass, reed canary grass or Miscanthus, lignocellulosic biomass comprising lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose (both preferred), and/or plant biomass) to produce sugars, preferably hexose and pentose sugars, which are useful for producing renewable fuels, chemicals and materials, preferably ethanol, butanol, lactic acid, gasoline, biodiesel, methane, hydrogen, electricity, plastics, composites, protein, drugs and/or fertilizers, where the chemicals are succinic acid, glycerol, 3-hydropropoionic acid, 2,5-dimethylfuran, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural, furfural, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, itaconic acid, levulinic acid, aldehydes, alcohols, amines, terephthalic acid, hexamethylenediamine, isoprene, polyhydroxyalkanoates and/or 1,3-propanediol (all claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The continuous method is capable of effectively, rapidly and economically treating the biomass with reduced energy consumption and minimized reactor size thus improving the production yield of the sugar.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Treating biomass, comprises: either mixing a biomass with an ionic liquid to swell the biomass, and electromagnetic heating, preferably radiofrequency heating or infrared heating, the swelled biomass; or (a) incubating a biomass in a sufficient amount of an ionic liquid for a sufficient time and temperature to swell the biomass, preferably without dissolution of the biomass in the ionic liquid, (b) applying radio frequency heating or infrared heating to the biomass to heat to a target temperature, preferably 50-220 degrees C, (c) applying ultrasonic heating to the biomass to maintain the biomass at the target temperature, (d) washing the treated biomass with a liquid non-solvent for cellulose that is miscible with water and the ionic liquid, and (e) contacting the washed treated biomass with an aqueous buffer comprising enzymes capable of hydrolyzing cellulose and hemicellulose to produce sugars, preferably hexose and pentose sugars. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a method-1 for disruption of the structure of a lignocellulosic biomass, comprising incubating the biomass in the ionic liquid to swell the biomass and applying radiofrequency heating or infrared heating and ultrasonics, electromagnetic, convective and/or conductive heating;    (2) a method-2 for conversion of the carbohydrates of biomass to sugars, comprising either (i) mixing biomass in the ionic liquid to swell the biomass, (ii) the step (b) as above per se, (iii) applying ultrasonics, electromagnetic, convective and/or conductive heating to the biomass to maintain the biomass at the target temperature, (iv) washing the treated biomass, and (v) hydrolyzing the treated biomass to yield sugars, preferably pentose and hexose sugars, and release proteins and lignin, or the step (i) as above per se, applying radio infrared heating to the biomass to heat to the target temperature, preferably 50-220 degrees C, and the steps (iii)-(v) as above per se;    (3) a method-3 for the conversion of cellulose to sugar, comprising the steps (i)-(iii) as above per se, (iva) precipitating amorphous cellulose and/or cellulose of reduced crystallinity by mixture with the anti-solvent, and (va) adding cellulase to the cellulose precipitate under conditions which promote the hydrolysis of cellulose to sugars or the step (i) as above per se, applying infrared heating to the biomass to heat to the target temperature, preferably 50-220 degrees C, precipitating amorphous cellulose and/or cellulose of reduced crystallinity by mixture with an anti-solvent, and adding cellulase to the cellulose precipitate under conditions which promote the hydrolysis of cellulose to sugars;    (4) a method-4 of acidolysis of biomass comprising the step (a) as above per se, adding an acid, preferably sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid or phosphoric acid, lowering the pH of the biomass to below pH 7, preferably 1-6, the step (b) and (c) as above per se, washing the treated biomass, and recovering sugars, preferably pentose and hexose sugars, and release lignin;    (5) a system-1 for treating biomass comprising either at least one electromagnetic oven, and a moving platform that comprises at least one conveyor belt and is configured to receive biomass on the conveyor belt at a first end of the moving platform and to move the biomass through the electromagnetic oven for treating the biomass by radio frequency treatment in combination with ionic liquids, and a sensor network coupled to a feedback system, or a mixing zone, where the biomass is mixed with the ionic liquid, coupled to the electromagnetic, preferably radiofrequency, processing zone comprising a variable upper electrode and a fixed lower electrode, the biomass is subjected to electromagnetic, preferably radiofrequency, treatment, coupled to a washing zone for washing the biomass, and a sensor network coupled to a feedback system, or a reactor vessel coupled to a sensor network coupled to a feedback unit for controlling the time, temperature, pressure and water content of an interior of the reactor vessel; and    (6) a system-2 for dehydrating a liquid mixture comprising either an ionic liquid and water, comprising at least one planar surface configured to irradiate infrared radiation, at least one radiation source adjacent to the planar surface, at least two panel strips adjacent to the surface and arranged in parallel to form at least one channel for the liquid mixture, and at least one variable electrode arranged to fit into at least one of the at least one channels, where the variable electrode comprises one or more thin metal strip sheets, or a planar surface comprising one or more plates, a device having an outlet projecting through the planar surface, where the device is configured to spray the liquid mixture in a direction away from the planar surface and configured to spray the liquid mixture to at least a first distance from the outlet, and at least one radiation source adjacent to the planar surface and configured to emit radiation towards the liquid mixture when it is sprayed from the outlet.