Abstract: Sugarcane shoots and leaves consist of 35.2% cellulose, 23.43% hemicellulose, 12.6% lignin and 6.59% ash on dry solid
(DS) basis and have the potential to serve as low cost feedstocks for ethanol production. To improve the enzymatic digestibility of these
biomass and bioethanol production, three pretreatment methods had been investigated and compared, including: (1) 2% w/v NaOH
solution autoclaving pretreatment; (2) 2% w/v H2SO4 solution autoclaving pretreatment and (3) two steps of 2% w/v NaOH solution
autoclaving followed by 2% w/v H2SO4 solution autoclaving pretreatment.