3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effects of pre-treatments on the reducing sugar yield of WBY
In order to determine which pre-treatment led to a higher yield of reducing sugars, the reducing sugar content was assessed after hydrolysis. Two variables, namely the dosage of WBY and duration of the pre-treatment, were investigated. As shown in Fig. 1, the reducing sugar yield was significantly affected by the dosage of WBY and the pre-treatment time for all four pre-treatments. The reducing sugar yields of untreated WBY are represented by time 0 in the plots.