Usage of renewable resources is of growing importance. To avoid the conflict of growing food vs. energy plants, organic wastes have to be used. The hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a simple process to gain dry and energy-rich biochar especially from wet biomass. By determining the degradation kinetics of the three biomass components cellulose, D-xylose and lignin, the reaction behavior could be determined and was validated against a real biomass (beech wood).