Vásquez et al. (2007) noted the same effect when analyzing the hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse subjected to sulfuric acid pretreatment or to acid–alkali pretreatment (sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide). In that study, the authors observed that after 24 h of hydrolysis at 50 C using 7% (w/v) bagasse and 20 FPU of cellulases per gram of substrate, approximately 10 and 20 g/L of glucose were released with the acid pretreatment and the acid–alkali pretreat ment, respectively. In this work similar results were obtained with the acid–alkali pretreatment using 15 FPU of enzyme and 8% (w/v) of pretreated bagasse. The acid–alkali pretreatment was selected for use in subsequent experiments because it showed the best hydrolysis yield.