Abstract: Knetics and product distributions of cellulose decomposition in near-critical water were studied with a continuous flow-type apparatus for supercritical and near-critical water reactions.The experimental temperature range was from 513K to 583K and residence time from 0.5min to 1.6min.The effects of temperature and residence time on cellulose residue were demonstrated.The apparent actiation energy evaluated was 147kJ·mol ^-1 .In addition,the effects of temperature and residence time on the yield distributions of wter soluble oligomers,glucose and levulose,pyruvic aldehyde,5-hydroxymethyl furfural,furfural were described in detail.The experimental results showed that selective decomposition of cellulose in near critical water was possible.