A chemical-free pretreatment process for the production of pulp is described. By treating wheat straw biomass with hot compressed liquid water (e.g, 200 degrees C, 22 bar), almost all the hemicellulose and up to 62% of the lignin are extracted from the lignocellulosic matrix. The remaining solid residue, the pulp, consists of cellulose and residual lignin. Several modes of operation (percolation, recirculation, and combined modes) in a 1 O-L pilot plant were used for this investigation. The combined recirculation-percolation process is advantageous because of its low water and energy consumption. Bleaching was carried out by alkaline extraction and by using hydrogen peroxide only. Indications as to how bleaching can be improved are given. With unbleached pulp, paper tensile strengths of over 3 km were reached. Bleaching increased this value by approximately 1 km.