This paper presented a continuous process of an alkaline pre-treatment and hydrothermal reaction for
cellulose degradation. Sodium hydrate solution was selected as the hydrating agent for soaking cotton
cellulose at room temperature in which the cellulose was swollen by imbibition of alkaline liquid. After
pre-treatment, superfluous alkaline liquid was separated by vacuum filtration and re-used. The treated
cotton cellulose with sodium hydrate solution was used for the hydrothermal reaction in a low alkaline
concentration for cellulose degradation. The main products from the combined cellulose soaking and
degradation were lactic acid, formic acid and acetic acid. After various trials under different conditions
and duration, the optimized conditions for the integrated pre-treatment and subsequent hydrothermal
degradation processes have been developed. The maximum yields have been achieved for lactic acid
(39.54%), formic acid (21.85%) and acetic acid (3.07%) using 3.0 mol/L NaOH solution for the cellulose
soaking followed by hydrothermal degradation at 483K for 30 h. The mechanisms of the formation of
lactic acid,formic acid and acetic acid were also investigated. This developed process has also been applied
in the degradation of lignocellulosic biomass and similar yields to the cotton cellulose degradation were
achieved.