At the treatment conditions used in this study, which are similar to those used for dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass to increase its enzymatic digestibility, sucrose is rapidly hydrolyzed to fructose and glucose. No sucrose remained in solution even at the least severe reaction condition investigated (160 °C, 0.1% (w/w) acid, 3 min reaction time). However, varying amounts of fructose and glucose remained after treatment, with measured concentrations ranging from near the theoretical maximums that could be derived from sucrose when treated at low severity conditions to nearly zero for treatment at the most severe condition (200 °C, 2.0% acid, 8 min reaction time). Fructose exhibited much faster degradation kinetics than glucose. Due of the large differences in reaction rates, different methods were needed to accurately determine kinetic parameters for fructose and glucose degradation. An ODE-based method was required to calculate kinetic parameters for fructose degradation, whereas, multivariable linear regression was sufficient to determine glucose degradation kinetic parameters