Rice straw was pretreated with dilute sulfuric acid in order to decrease the amorphous portion and
enhance enzyme accessibility. Dilute acid pretreatment process was optimized using a statistical
method, and the relationships between each factor were investigated. Saccharification of pretreated rice
straw was then performed, followed by fermentation of glucose, the hydrolysate of the saccharification
process. The optimal dilute acid pretreatment process was as follows: temperature 110 8C, reaction time
14.02 min, and acid concentration 1.2%. Following dilute acid pretreatment, the solid weight was
decreased by about 20% and 73.14% of the theoretical maximum content of xylose was solubilized.
Glucose was recovered at a rate of about 90% at 24 h after rice straw was treated with dilute acid.
Qualitative analysis such as SEM, XRD, and FT-IR were conducted after the pretreatment process, and the
results supported the pretreatment process.