Considering the hydrolysis of substrates that were produced under different pretreatment conditions, water-washed (Fig. 1A–C) and unwashed (Fig. 1D–F) steam-exploded samples exhibited similar profiles of reducing sugar release. The hydrolysis of unwashed samples pretreated at 200 C for 10 and 6 min released 863.42 ± 62.52 mg/g and 785.73 ± 31.81 mg/g of reducing sugars in 36 h, respectively (Fig. 1F). These values are comparable to those obtained from the enzymatic hydrolysis of Celuflock and Avicel . Hence, pretreatment made the biomass a more accessible target to the concerted action of the enzymes.