Coastal Bermuda grass was pretreated with NaOH at concentrations from 0.5% to 3% (w/v) for a residence
time from 15 to 90 min at 121 C. The pretreatments were evaluated based on total lignin removal and
production of total reducing sugars, glucose and xylose from enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass.
Up to 86% lignin removal was observed. The optimal NaOH pretreatment conditions at 121 C for
total reducing sugars production as well as glucose and xylose yields are 15 min and 0.75% NaOH. Under
these optimal pretreatment conditions, total reducing sugars yield was about 71% of the theoretical maximum,
and the overall conversion efficiencies for glucan and xylan were 90.43% and 65.11%, respectively.